We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Binhui Cai. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Binhui below.

Hi Binhui, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My practice is about the relationship between space and the people. Using material experience to let people interact with my work to slow down their fast pace/notice the beauty around us/have connection with the space and feel comfortable.They are about finding the connection with the space. My work <connection of the city> (2019) was based on my experience in London. I showed my journey of finding a connection with the city and let people to experience through my installation work.
In 2020, I made an experimental handmade book <Lost Gloves>. This book was about finding and collecting the images of lost gloves on the street. At first, it was just a self-collection of urban observation. While I post those photos online, more people joined the project of finding them. It was interesting to see social media connection influence the real-life observation. And I made an interactive book to let people experience the way of finding by turning the pages.
There is an ongoing project I started in 2022, called “Soft Growing”. It was first started at the residency program in Hangzhou, BY ART MATTERS. The main idea of this project is to find the “softness/tenderness/connection” in a city area each year in one specific city. The first stop is Hangzhou, I made an interactive art installation in a public space in Tianmuli. People could come and play with my works and create new pieces of fabric. And then those created fabrics were put onto the architects, becoming part of the architecture. It was an energy flow between people and urban space.
The second stop was in Chengdu, China, in 2023. In the second time I put my eye on the trees in the city area, observing their interaction with people and translating those narratives by making installations / weaving works/ drawings. Leading people to have more connection and thoughts about our surroundings after seeing my work.
The third stop will be in Changsha，2024. I am still working on it and hopefully it will go well in May.

Binhui, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in the countryside in Sichuan with nature. I like touching the earth. I studied Urban Planning in college. During that time, I traveled to different cities and countries. I realized that I was more sensitive than I thought when I was in unfamiliar spaces. I observed how people act and live and found it interesting and more involved. In urban planning, there is more about developing and rebuilding. But for me, I want to treasure more about what exists. So I decided to learn visual communication to explore my way of communicating feelings. During the time I studied VC at the Royal College of Art, I realized how important physical experience was for me in my work. So I used different materials in my work to explore the possibilities of visual works.
I like the feeling when touching the material and feeling the tactile. I like paper/fabrics and wood. So most of my work uses these materials. I handmade my work because I think handmade works transfer energy. I do bookbinding/weaving/wood works, and quilting. Crafts work took so much time and the more I made the more I treasured handcrafts.
I have a long-term project called “Soft Growing”, which took place in Hangzhou (2022) and Chengdu (2023). And it will happen in Changsha in May this year (2024). The main idea of the project is to recall the connection of the place we live. In this project, different cities will have different themes. In Hangzhou, the theme is about mind flowing. In Chengdu, it’s about trees in the city.
All these works present my observation of the city and let people take part in it.
My work provides a sense of space, a space that is loving and caring. Last November, there was an exhibition in Hangzhou called Day-to-Day Practice. I brought my EWP work (Experimental Waving Project) and created a sense of my studio space in the gallery space. All those works are from my day-to-day studio diary. In EWP, I used daily waste to do experimental weaving, creating new and interesting material combinations. Day-to-day life and work become more interesting because of these little creations.
I always believe that “The world is beautiful around us, we just need an eye on it.”. This is the quote that I heard from an audience after she saw my work.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I started my career in a non-traditional way. At the very first beginning stage, I wish that I could visit more art spaces and studios, to see how they work and share experience with each other. And then I wish I could understand that: this is a lifelong journey, keep practicing / experimenting / working and producing in my pace.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect for me is having more time to think about the things around me. And I could transform those thoughts into creative experience/work and present it to more people. It’s like starting a mind flow that could push the world to move forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.binhuicai.com
• Instagram: blaircbh
• Youtube: blaircbh
• Other: red: @blaircbh

Image Credits
1.<Lost Gloves>, Binhui Cai; 2.<A Landscape in A Landscape>, Binhui Cai 3. <Soft Growing>, Binhui Cai; 4.<Day-to-Day Practice>,Binhui Cai, photo by Ruijing Ge 5. <Day-to-Day Practice>,Binhui Cai, photo by Ruijing Ge; 6. <connection to the city>,Binhui Cai 7.<Soft Growing>, Binhui Cai; 8. <her>, Binhui Cai