Yidan Guo: The Souls of Resilience

During her residency, artist Yidan Guo focused on creating new portraits of immigrant and refugee women—rooted in deep connection: she visited Boise’s local immigrant and refugee communities, conducting heartfelt interviews to infuse her work with their lived experiences.

At this event, you’ll encounter these new, high-quality portraits alongside existing pieces from her ongoing series Women Who Are Immigrants and Refugees. Together, the works weave a richer, more nuanced tapestry of the diverse experiences within our community.

This is your chance to engage deeply: explore the exhibition, hear the stories behind the portraits, and join Yidan for an intimate art talk. She’ll share her creative process, the challenges she navigated, and the profound insights gained through this project—followed by a Q&A where you can dive deeper.

Come connect with art that honors resilience, identity, and the threads that bind our community.

BIOGRAPHY

Yidan’s journey as a painter has spanned thousands of miles, from her birthplace in China to her present home in the US. This migratory experience has deeply influenced her choice of subject matter: women who are immigrants and refugees.  As an Asian immigrant and a woman artist, there’s a shared bond, a collective experience of navigating new cultures, which forms the core of her creative exploration.

At the age of 15, Yidan began eight years of rigorous training at China Central Academy of Fine Arts – the most prestigious art school in China and earned her Bachelor of Art degree in Chinese Painting. In 2005 she earned a master’s degree in Philosophy from Renmin University of China and a MFA from Idaho State University in 2024.