The University of Calgary Department of Art in collaboration with The Department of Germanic, Slavic and East Asian Studies is proud to present 2009-2010 International Visiting Artist Wenda Gu. 
Wenda Gu is one of the leading contemporary Chinese artists today. Known by some as "the hair artist" Gu has been living in New York for the past two decades and working on large-scale cross-cultural projects throughout the world. Gu has built his reputation on reinvigorating ancient Chinese symbols and practices like seal carving, calligraphy, ink painting with contemporary vision and meaning.

Monuments of his ongoing “united nations” project, solely made  of local people’s hair, have been created  in a site-specific, historically contextualized fashion on all continents, in countries such as Israel, Poland, China, France, and Canada. For example, to mark the British handover of Hong Kong to China, he created "united nations: Hong Kong Monument: The Historical Clash," which consisted of a Chinese flag made of Chinese hair, a Union Jack made of British hair, and hair cuttings from Hong Kong scattered on the floor. Gu’s more recent project, “Heavenly Lantern,” is a covering-up of international architectural landmarks with Chinese lanterns inscribed with his own invented Chinese characters.
 
http://www.finearts.ucalgary.ca