For
all its preoccupation with female sexuality and identity in
contemporary China, the work of Cui Xiuwen has always transcended the
label of feminism with its intimate, emotive yet confrontational
aesthetics. From her earlier paintings and videos to her conceptual
photography in recent years, the artist's alter-ego has metamorphosed
through grief and constraints imposed by the external world, to reach
a state of illumination that speaks to the wider human experience.
Cui's
latest series since 2007, Existential
Emptiness
is a deeper, more introspective voyage. The new series continues in a
similar vein of digitally manipulated photography as her previous
works, One
Day in 2004 and
Angel,
where brilliant light and colourful palettes shine on the
contradictions in cultural traditions and violence enacted against
women in earlier times in China. The repercussions remain in Cui’s
renditions, as the figures of young girls embody the pressure that is
inherent in the feminine identity. Through the doleful girl-child in
One
Day in 2004
and the dejected, pregnant teenage girl in Angel,
the protagonists are depicted in self-portrait formats and ethereal
settings through which Cui addresses the violation of innocence under
social and cultural pressure.
Paradox
underlines the image of Cui’s alter-ego, which appears in different
guises and settings. In Existential
Emptiness,
chilling landscapes of Northern China are transformed into monochrome
images reminiscent of traditional Chinese ink painting. The solitude
of Cui's alter-ego unfolds, framed by ice and snow, against barren
backgrounds with hues of silver hinting at the arrival of spring.
Existential
Emptiness probes
deep into the loneliness of femininity: in the fictive domain, the
artist’s alter-ego is accompanied by a life-size doll that lays
limb in her arms. At times the two are mirrored selves in isolation
and enlightenment through their journey; at other moments the doll is
a burden the protagonist must bear as she plods along her path.
The
narrative acquires a subtly subversive dimension: for Cui, the doll
evokes the duality of body and soul in the subject in art. Its
presence in the photos symbolizes the artist's confrontation with her
own female identity, and the dynamic shifts between helplessness and
strength. In 'Existential Emptiness No.5', the girl succumbs under
the weight of her struggle and falls onto the snow with the doll on
her back, her face obliterated against snowy mountains. The artist's
resistance strikes again in 'Existential Emptiness No.7' where her
alter-ego, wearing splinters of snow all over her body, drags her
doll across a surreal whiteness and misty veils of trees. The image
is one of self-assertion, of a relentless search for an exit towards
an unknown point in time.
The
discovery in Existential
Emptiness
is an unsettling one for the audience—it presents the pain borne by
women in contemporary China, inviting the viewers to experience its
thought-provoking representations. 'Existential Emptiness No.6', a
triptych of three horizontally aligned compositions, is the perfect
culmination of this dilemma. The protagonist and her doll stand
defenceless in the middle of a highway, and the doll's sexuality is
exposed through her open school uniform amid harsh wind. The
headlights of oncoming car, sightings of pedestrians and bicyclists
and the pale silhouette of the smokestacks of an industrial factory
site come together in a cold, ruthless symphony that plays to the
girl's distress.
The
motifs in this image are a stark revelation of the oppression that
runs through the series: both the girl and her doll, in their school
girl personas and vulnerable state, seemingly conform to the
stereotyping of female identity as seen through the conventional male
gaze. The artist's alter-ego can only hold her doll in front of her
while huddling behind its inert body, then shielding it as they ride
away from the scene. The city setting points to the universality of
such female experience in the society, where women continue to endure
and seek to escape from conventional judgement. The flight begins at
an early as symbolized by the doll’s bony rib cage and thin pubic
hair. Neither a child nor a woman, the girl protagonist struggles in
isolation through the abrupt changes in her sexuality. The sense of
loneliness lingers into adulthood, which the artist continues to
redefine it in her series of alter-egos.
In
the universe of Existential
Emptiness
one finds both oppression and refuge, as the void offers an opening
into enlightened, interior landscape. The artist's alter-ego finds
certainty in the silent union with her doll in 'Existential Emptiness
No.9'. The two engage in a shared meditation, protected from the
intrusion of the surroundings by retreating into their selves. The
refuge is also a meditation on the wider human condition, as silence
is often the only transgression one can rage against cultural and
social constraints. And the power of such transgression must come
from a true recognition of one's body and soul, which Cui alludes to
in 'Existential Emptiness No.16'--an individual must face her selves,
in perfect stillness and acceptance, as if one's existence was at
stake in a vast, frozen wilderness.
About
the artist
One
of the most renowned artists in contemporary art in China, Cui Xiuwen
graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in
1996. Cui's artistic career began with painting and evolved to
include video works in the early 2000's, and her works presented a
pointed exploration of the new sexuality in China. Since 2004, Cui
has turned to photographic assemblages in an intriguing mix of
digital manipulation, traditional motifs in both Western and Chinese
arts and her singular aesthetics.
The
work of Cui Xiuwen has been exhibited in some of the world's most
prestigious galleries and museums including Tate Modern and Victoria
and Albert Museum in London; International Center of Photography
(ICP) in New York and Pompidou Centre in Paris. Cui recently had a
solo exhibition at Today Art Museum in Beijing.