Her Dream, Her Way - Abby Wu, 88rising Creative Producer
Portrait by Leo Hsu
Photography by Kostantina Vlahos (@tina.vlahos)
Interview Isis Nicole (@theisisnicole)
Before relocating to Los Angeles to join 88rising as a creative producer, Abby Wu had a life stretching across two more major cities. “I was born and raised in Guangzhou, China,” she says. “It’s the third biggest city in China but not that many people know about it. I often describe it as the part where you speak Cantonese, where dim sum came from, or the city right across Hong Kong. But that’s kind of like the crash course way to put it for foreigners. At its core, it’s a very humid and poetic city. From there, I went to college in New York and recently relocated to Los Angeles.”
For now, Wu’s projects span music videos, short films, documentaries, photoshoots, and performance videos. “I wanted to keep producing all different forms of projects,” she says, “bring different ideas from creative minds to life, and foster intentional expression - both my own and other’s.” A few scrolls through her Instagram, and you get a glimpse at her producer credentials for acts like Rich Brian, NIKI, and Warren Hue on their music video “California.”
Over email, towards the end of my interview questions, I ask Wu about fun facts. She shares that her dream vacation is to visit Asia with her girlfriends (which is also my dream with family) and that she masters zero vehicles (which can be laborious for a California lifestyle).
“No driver license, [I] don’t know how to ride a bike or a scooter,” she continues, “Probably can’t fly a plane as far as I’m concerned.” And when it comes to describing her style in three words, she adds, “Tired, sharp, and occasionally playful?” Sounds fab.
Isis Nicole: What were some of the differences and similarities you notice living and working in China, Los Angeles and New York?
Abby Wu: This is a very grand question. I think living anywhere more or less has more similarities than differences. You familiarize yourself with a neighborhood, you observe, you meet people, you let people you meet define this place for you. I feel like this process of warming up to any city is pretty consistent for me. But of course from there, you’ll develop irreplaceable relationships with the people you meet in a certain place and a more visceral feeling about a place.
Out of all three places, I enjoyed living in New York the most. I like how it’s raw and cynical but you keep it the fun way. And it truly brings all different types of people together, in a sense that you literally encounter them on a walk or a train ride. LA feels different - although it’s also a big city with all different kinds of people, the city is rather segregated and you don’t get a chance to interact with different people often. I miss seeing a lot of pedestrians. Here in LA, sometimes I feel like I’m the only surviving character in this video game when I walk on the streets. Although I miss New York a lot, I also feel like I need to be okay without living in New York, because there will be more estrangements coming in life whether I like it or not.
The notion of home has been very blurry - as I’m sure many people might feel the same way when they migrate. Now when I visit home in China, I need some time to re-adjust to the lifestyle as well. Last few times when I’m back home, I felt more like a visitor than a local. But the US is definitely not home either, as it keeps reminding me about my immigration status. So I constantly have this fear of an inevitable leave and that I cannot have a long-term plan here or settle down.
Follow @abbixzka on Instagram
Originally published in IN #10, FW 2021/22