Li Yao: Maldives

Part autobiography, fairy tale, and allegory, Li Yao tells -and illustrates- a story akin to Journey to the West but as the Chinese version of Dante’s Inferno. 

Follow along with the artist from his home to this Land of Opportunity, a Brave New World of dreamy dreams in pursuit of good fortune, great knowledge, and grand happiness only to be on the Razor’s Edge. So is our lone protagonist now either ascending up a game of death? Or descending into a rabbit hole? On a path to self-realization and inner harmony? Or seeking redemption and salvation?

Somewhere between these de Chirico lookalike terrains and Orwellian psycho geographies perhaps lies the answer.

Photo credit: YoungSun Choi