Yi, Han

United-Sates, 1980

Han Yi, born in New York in 1980, was diagnosed with a mental handicap at a very early age. She was given special schooling until the age of 21. Her father often took her to art exhibitions, and early on she developed a noticeable interest for drawing and writing. The hyperactive child could only concentrate when she was sitting down to draw. She began drawing letters and words of her own invention, spending hours with her exercise books. In 2008, she went to China for the first time to visit her father, who had returned there, and expressed the wish to transcribe Chinese characters, which she had never learned. Making formal imitations, she produced a sort of glossography. In 2010, Han began learning the calligraphy of Bada Shenren, characterized by a particular visual vocabulary imbued with symbolism.

Source: Based on christian berst art brut