My name is Echo Morgan, My real Chinese name is Xie Rong. I grew up in ChengDu, I moved to the UK when I was 19. In my work I take on the role of director, performer, narrator and filmmaker. I am collecting and collaging encounters, voices, texts and images from my cultural roots in China and my daily life in the UK. Through the mediums of performance and film I explore the intrinsic and complex relationship between violence, beauty, and vulnerability, re-examining how these antipodal constructs impact ideas of the ‘self’ and the body. There are three paths in my work: Narrative, Live performance and ‘Re-performance’: My narrative is rooted with my family history. I explore my individual memory that is deeply embodied within China’s complex society – one that had undergone a series of philosophical, ideological and political transformations. My live performances are mostly long endurance, I often transform the surface of my body into symbols and invite viewers to participate, drawing strength from the audience’s emotional vulnerability, and feelings of uneasiness, to complete the performance as a whole. Here, my emotions become entwined with the audience’s, creating a symbiotic relationship based on control and power.
