Lee Mingwei was born in Taiwan in 1964 but soon became an immigrant to the US to attend a Benedictine high school. Mingwei studied at California college of Arts, earning a BFA in textiles in 1993. Lee continued his studies at Yale, earning an MFA in sculpture in 1997. Since then, he works between New York and Paris. As a child, Lee would spend summers at monasteries in Taiwan where ‘he learned the simple power of concentrating on daily activities. Lee Mingwei works mainly creating participatory installations, where strangers come together to take part in the artworks. Many of his artworks explore issues related with trust and intimacy. His pieces generally involve viewer participation by creating new connections with strangers. The focus of his work is not on what can be made, but the relationships between participants.
The Dining Project was first performed while Mingwei was a student at Yale university in 1995. The project started as he felt isolated at his first year at university, so he made posters inviting anyone to share food with him. When performed at the Whitney in 1998, the artist invited an individual museum visitor selected by lottery, to join him after-hours. The artist cooked a meal according to the individual’s preferences. They then ate the meal together. Through the performance, Mingwei created companionship, as if he was cooking for a friend. The visitor would have needed to trust Lee- to cook, to be safe alone in the museum and with any conversation they might have had.
The Mending Project was created out of Mingwei’s experience of 9/11. Mingwei’s partner was in the twin towers in 2001 when the plane crashed into them. Mingwei thought his partner had died and in panic
took out all their clothes that needed mended and started to sew them. The project involves individuals bringing him pieces of clothing that need to be repaired. He would then invite them to sit down and ask them a personal question about the item of clothing while he did the repair. After he finished mending, he asked the participant if he could keep the item of clothing until after the show. The exhibition took place in both eastern and western countries but Mingwei noticed the interaction was the same as the work was about ‘a gift between strangers, mending and talking’. The participant would give Mingwei the gift of trust through conversation and Mingwei would give the gift of mended clothes.
‘The gesture of mending for me has different levels of meaning. The most obvious is that a piece of clothing is broken and needs repair. It could also be in (a) completely different conversation about how the world is today. There are so many things that are broken in the world now, with politics the climate, relationships between people, between countries. Can we do something about it? I know I am just an artist and all I can do
at this moment is something close to me. So, let me start with our second skin; the clothes we are wearing.’
100 days with Lily, is a work Mingwei created in 1995 after the death of his grandmother, as a way of mourning. For this performance piece, Mingwei held onto a daffodil bulb for 100 days as it was planted, grew and eventually died. He did everything with the lily for this time, creating a ritual as the flower completed its life cycle. On the 100th day he replants it in the earth, ready to flower next spring. He documented the performance onto posters which described an activity for each day with Lily. Through this performance he was able to mourn his grandmother and bring time back into proper motion through reflection.