The Hidden Talents of Tao

A top-10 finalist in Smithsonian Magazine’s annual photography contest, outshining 30,000 submissions globally. A winner among 80,000 entries in The College Board’s upcoming AP Art and Design Exhibit. Now, imagine: what if the photographer behind these feats had never seriously picked up a camera until just last year? That’s the case for alumnus Taolue “Tao” Yu (SHP ‘24).

 

“Tao is so very individual,” says SHP Fine Arts teacher Moshe Quinn. “He became known and respected for gliding abstractedly across campus like he was riding a cloud.” Those frequent walks became legendary–even talked about during the Salutatorian’s speech–while his artistic talents remained hidden.

 

In contrast with what an ever-growing number of photography awards would imply, Yu says, "Even now, I can confidently say I do not get the camera at all... I like to refer to what I do as something more akin to stage design." 

 

“While people call my work ‘photography,’ I actually beg to differ,” he continues. “The props, the model, the makeup, and the lighting are all aspects that take weeks to think of and set up. The actual shoot? 15 minutes.”

 

Yu is unaffected, humble, with a “down-to-earth approach” and an ease about receiving criticism and feedback that Quinn found “refreshing.” 

 

“He looked at all this as ongoing opportunities to learn, to see what could happen,” says Quinn.

 

Despite the newness of his emerging art, Yu is no dilettante. “He was always very thoughtful and put a lot of effort into his artmaking,” explains Quinn.

 

By meticulously controlling every aspect of the shoot, particularly the lighting, Yu creates images that are deliberate, composed, and deeply personal, drawing from one central theme of inspiration: “what makes me–me,” Yu says.

 

“Every aspect of the art has ties to my own thoughts and feelings… that's where they all stem from,” he goes on. “My art isn’t fighting for anything grand like environmental problems or gender and race equality–some pieces have aspects of those–but there will never be one overarching theme to my work other than ‘Tao.’”

 

Delving into fashion design is an even newer pursuit than photography for Yu, one that landed him on the stage of last summer’s Silicon Valley Fashion Week.

 

Reflecting on his experience at the fashion show, at the outset design was number one, but “seeing the clothes come to life with the models… motivated me to make something that takes both comfort and design into equal consideration,” says Yu.

 

He often lands on how personal experiences and unconventional moments shape his artistic path, even going back to his seven years at SHS.

 

“For me, not even the best academic classes could impact me as much as the natural world that Sacred Heart’s campus embodies so much,” says Yu. Courses like “Sustainable Agriculture” introduced him to the campus farm and gardens. Shortly after, baby chicks and a mother hen would soon follow Yu around, accustomed to his daily visits. An English course led him to discover birdwatching, and the concept of listening to the sounds of nature unplugged from technology. “At first, it was a little uncomfortable for me without [headphones and] lyrics in my ears, but as time passed, I realized how quickly my mind was able to imagine. By the end of that session, I had already thought of three new ideas for a project in ‘Digital Art and Design,’” his favorite–and foundational–art class, taught by Quinn. “From then on,” he continued, “if I was alone, I would try to tune myself into the world a bit more.”

 

Likewise, a shift in perspective has also helped Yu’s artwork evolve. The image that will be exhibited by The College Board began as an idea of “a frog trapped in a well.” Instead of focusing on the frog and its environment, Yu chose a close-up edit. “This emphasizes the model to the environment in a 70-30 balance instead of 50-50. Talking with Mr. Quinn, we both agreed this gave the model more of a ‘spirit feel.’” 

 

The SHS community will be eager to see what’s ahead for Yu, but for now, he’s focused on finishing a gap year which has sparked his growth as an artist, a passion for fashion design, and a plan to study Film Art in college. But ultimately, he says, art “isn’t about a future aspiration or a distant goal–it’s a ‘now.’”