Benjamin

Portrait of the artist Benjamin Li – black hair, black sweater and glasses – sitting in the 'Chinees-Indisch' Restaurant Peach Garden, eating dinner.

Li

(1985)

Benjamin Li is a conceptual artist based in Rotterdam. Through his work, Li explores themes like identity, belonging, labour and cultural heritage, using food as a lens through which to delve into these complex subjects.

Since 2014, Li has visited over 1,000 ‘Chinese-Indisch’ restaurants across the Netherlands, creating an archive of menus, tableware, and personal stories. Through photography, video, sculptures, and puzzles featuring images of ‘Chinese-Indisch’ dishes, he explores the richness, variety and charm of these restaurants.

Through his art, Li honors these establishments, though often misunderstood, highlighting their cultural and historical significance. In doing so, his work challenges stereotypes and prejudices faced by Asians in the Netherlands, focusing on identity, representation, displacement, foodways and a sense of home. 

 

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Photography and a master’s degree in Media Design and Communication and completed a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.

His work has been exhibited in LAM Museum, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Noordbrabants Museum, among others, and is included in various museum and corporate collections such as SPACES Art Collection and AkzoNobel Art Foundation. In 2018 he was nominated for the Volkskrant Visual Arts Prize and received a grant from the Mondriaan Fund. 

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babi pangang with fries on a plate

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Benjamin Li