Art Without Limits: Tianning Hu ’28 Finds Freedom in Storytelling

At Davidson, she tells it any way she can — through dance, theatre, video game design, sculpting, creative writing and animation. Taking on so many different artistic mediums has set her free to pursue artistry without limitations.

Her family moved from Shanghai to Charlotte when Hu was 13 years old. Growing up in China, she loved going to the ballet and reading anything she could find, including Charles Dickens, Shakespeare and Dante’s Inferno. She began telling her own stories, drawing characters in notebook margins.

“It was a very competitive school environment, and none of this was taught,” she said. “Everything I learned about art early on, I learned through my own experience. When I came to the United States, I was suddenly able to choose what to do in class and was given freedom and agency in my learning.”

Still, she never thought of art as a serious path she could take. Instead, Hu came to Davidson seeking financial freedom and intending to major in economics. Everything else was supposed to be extracurricular, but the desire to tell stories wouldn’t leave her alone. 

After Douglas Houchens Professor of English Alan Michael Parker encouraged her to take her first creative writing class, Hu realized she needed to change directions. 

“I was changing the way I thought about success,” she said. “In order to think about my future and what I’m going to do in life, I first had to admit how important art is to me. I came to Davidson in part because I knew I didn’t have to choose a major right away. If I’d gone somewhere else, I don’t think I would have found the freedom to explore art the way I have.”

After that, the creative floodgates opened, and Hu began to pour herself into all kinds of mediums and activities on campus. She tried acting for the first time, showing up to multiple auditions until eventually landing roles in several Davidson College productions including “Julius Caesar.” She joined the Dance Ensemble and worked with Chair and Associate Professor of Dance Alison Bory to choreograph a modern piece for this year’s faculty dance concert. She studied animation techniques and transformed her digital art into short films. She started playing piano again.

“All of it is connected,” she said. “Dancing teaches me how to control my body to present an emotion, which helps with acting. Studying movement helps me draw, paint and sculpt my own characters. Theatre gives me more understanding of film and literature, and literature inspires me to write. Behind it all is the need to express.”

Video games also are among Hu’s favorite ways to tell stories. She spends her free time playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Death Stranding, known for their expansive worlds, sweeping narratives and intricate art styles. 

Last year, in Film, Media and Digital Studies Professor Owen Mundy’s Game Development class, Hu and a small group of students created their own game demo, pulling together their skills in coding, design, storytelling, music and more. 

For her senior thesis next year, Hu plans to develop her own game, something that pulls together all the mediums and tools at her disposal to tell a comprehensive story. 

“I’ve learned to think of creativity as a process of discovery,” she said. “I feel like I’m an archaeologist finding a dinosaur and working backwards to figure out how it got there. Eventually, I realize the story has been there all along.”