Ma Qiusha: From No.4 Ping Yuan Li To No.4 Tian Qiao Bei Li, 2007
Women Video Work(s)
Date: 2007
Material/Technique: Video, color, stereo
Copyright: © Ma Qiusha
In a monolog addressed to the audience, the artist recounts her childhood and youth, her education and her upbringing. As an only child and girl she experience the full brunt of the Chinese one-child policy: from her parent’s disappointment about her sex, the perfectionist demands exacted by her parents, through to striving for the best possible education, which even accepts financial ruin. Though the artist shows gratitude and humbleness, an impression of great torture emerges. This impression is further endorsed when the artist ends by extracting a razorblade from her meanwhile bleeding mouth. The frontal camera position and direct eye-contact gives rise to a powerful, critical encounter with the audience. It becomes all but impossible to elude the shocking content and, at times, pain-filled narrative.
Ma Qiusha
Ma Qiusha (born 1982 in Beijing) studied at the Digital Media Studio of CAFA, Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, and at Alfred University New York. Among other things, her works have been exhibited at the Tate Modern, at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and at the Liverpool Biennale. In her videos and installations, the artist treats her own family history and her present life as an artist in China.
http://www.maqiusha.com/
Text and Biography: Sophie Leschik
Material/Technique: Video, color, stereo
Copyright: © Ma Qiusha
In a monolog addressed to the audience, the artist recounts her childhood and youth, her education and her upbringing. As an only child and girl she experience the full brunt of the Chinese one-child policy: from her parent’s disappointment about her sex, the perfectionist demands exacted by her parents, through to striving for the best possible education, which even accepts financial ruin. Though the artist shows gratitude and humbleness, an impression of great torture emerges. This impression is further endorsed when the artist ends by extracting a razorblade from her meanwhile bleeding mouth. The frontal camera position and direct eye-contact gives rise to a powerful, critical encounter with the audience. It becomes all but impossible to elude the shocking content and, at times, pain-filled narrative.
Ma Qiusha
Ma Qiusha (born 1982 in Beijing) studied at the Digital Media Studio of CAFA, Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, and at Alfred University New York. Among other things, her works have been exhibited at the Tate Modern, at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and at the Liverpool Biennale. In her videos and installations, the artist treats her own family history and her present life as an artist in China.
http://www.maqiusha.com/
Text and Biography: Sophie Leschik