How Does a Sculptor Become an Explorer?

Rarely would anyone associate a sculptor with an adventurer, yet Liu Yang has managed to bridge that seemingly implausible gap. 

“What does Liu Yang do? When we were retracing the steps of the Red Army in the Long March, I thought he was a professional hiker and adventurer, without knowing that he was also a sculptor…”. This is what famous host Jing Yidan has to say when it comes to his friend and colleague. 

In 2010, before becoming a professional sculptor. Liu was part of the production crew for My Long March, which was awarded the best team for the Golden Rhino Award, one of the most prestigious outdoors awards in China. Liu at the time was the leader of the pathfinder team. Together they climbed five snowy mountains in a week, and traveled over 6500 kilometers in 250 days.

After devoting his time to making sculptures, the adventurous spirit is still within Liu. He doesn’t have a studio, which is also a way of saying, he makes the world his studio. Inside his backpack, you will find nothing of the ordinary, it’s filled with tools such as chisels, handsaws, drills and hammers.

The regular travelers saves the memory of the travel in their hearts, while Liu leaves sculptures behind wherever he goes. They become a part of the life for the locals, as well as a beautiful scene to be captured by the travelers’ camera. Often working all by himself, the only company being the stone and the wood, Liu isn’t afraid of the blustery wind or the blazing sun. In 2017 alone, Liu had completed ten large scale sculptures. His sculptures are also witnesses of the history. When Liu was working in Egypt, he encountered terrorist attack in Sinai. Behind his sculpture, it was the Egyptian flag flying at half-staff, lamenting those who had lost their lives to the attack.

Liu says: “art is the best way to break down barriers.”

The experience that he had made Liu the annual outdoor “TOP celebrity” in 2017. Liu is also one of the one hundred extreme explorers named by Souhu, and a “MAX explorer”.

Attached is a special feature of Liu Yang from the famous outdoor media Max explorer: