‘One Hundred Names’ offers a rare survey of over a decade of work by Chinese contemporary artist, Chen Qiulin. Through photography, video installation, performance and other mediums, Chen focuses on the central issues of migration, displacement, ancestry, urban development and its disruption of traditional Chinese culture and way of life.
The exhibition features a series of early photographic works from the Migration series including The Garden (2007) and Dawning Bell (2009), which see the artist stage theatrical performances against the backdrop of Chen’s home city of Wanzhou, collaborating with local workers as both cast and crew.
The exhibition features A Hundred Names for Kwong Wah Chong (2015), a multi-channel video installation commissioned by 4A Centre For Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney. This work is the latest iteration of Qiulin’s on-going One Hundred Surnames in Tofu (2004 – ) project that presents the one hundred most common Chinese family names carved in tofu. In this version of the work, Qiulin has also produced a series of short documentaries with local residents of Chengdu. These conversations draw on personal experiences of displacement and allow audiences to think about migration on a broader scale.
Shepparton Art Museum (SAM)
4 June to 24 July, 2016
Victoria
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
Until 27 February, 2016
Sydney
Chen Qiulin, One Hundred Surnames in Tofu (still), 2004, single-channel
Old Archway, 2009, c-type print, 154 x 124cm
Courtesy the artist, A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Chengdu; 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney and Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria
