3: Installation Art & Encounters (Extending the Invitation)
>> Wednesday, February 2, 2011 –
aed 813
To: 秋瑾 Qiu Jin (Autumn Gem)
Because: Qiu Jin refused to be bound by societal expectations of women. As a young girl, born in 1875, she learned subjects typically reserved for boys, such as archery and martial arts. She gave way to tradition and bore two children through an arranged marriage, but then traveled to Japan to pursue further education. Qiu Jin fought against the binding of feet and the binding of the mind, convinced that for China to thrive, men and women must both be productive as equal partners. She sought education and employment for women, and led in the revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. With Xu Zihua, she founded a women’s journal. Qiu Jin died a martyr for freedom at only 31 years of age.
The image, based on 剪纸 (Chinese paper cuts), shows the two sides of Qiu Jin. The right side depicts her as Chinese royalty, in traditionally feminine garb. Her feet are literally bound to one foot of the other figure, Qiu Jin in Western male fashion. (Qiu Jin was known to wear such clothing, to the embarrassment of her husband.) Her name is written in the central characters. The white band, curving down either side of the plate, forms a unique couplet. (Chinese traditionally display poetic phrases on two vertical banners, posted on either side of a door.) The right side reads “Scholars, throw down your brushes,” and ends in a calligraphy brush. The left side reads “Maidens, take up arms!” and ends in the barrel of a gun. These lines are from the movie Autumn Gem and are attributed to Qiu Jin.
I made the image through a combination of sketching, papercutting, photography, and photoshop.
Assignment: After reading how Judy Chicago and her volunteers selected women to honor at the dinner table and on the Heritage Floor of The Dinner Party, use the following questions to help select a woman to honor.
How did the woman make a worthwhile contribution to society?
In what ways did the woman attempt to improve conditions for women?
How did the woman’s life or work highlight a significant aspect of women’s history
or provide a model for more equality in society?
Make a visual representation for the woman and complete a placard to tell how the woman meets the criteria for selection and why she should be invited.
Very impressed with your graphic representation, looks like a wood cut to me! Was Qiu Jin able to extend any reforms to other women or were her ideals incorporated into a larger movement that succeeded?
My parents spent a lot of time in China during the 1970s and remember seeing older women with bound feet. Does that still exist?
-March
March -
The information on Qiu Jin (in English) is few and far between. Apparently she is well-known and honored among the Chinese (the government even built a museum to honor her in her hometown) but there's not much in English beyond sketchy websites and the documentary Autumn Gem (haven't seen it, but gleaned information from their website).
She is considered one of China's first, if not the first feminist. From what I can tell, she wasn't able to enact any changes, apart from her personal choices, but her ideals lived on in her colleague, Xu Zihua, who continued to publish their journal, spreading ideas about education, healthcare, and economic independence for women.
As to bound feet, it became unpopular or even illegal a number of times before the 20th century, but no changes ever stuck. Increasing contact with the West and pressure from national leaders like Qiu Jin forced serious reform as new governments arose in the wake of the Qing Dynasty (early 20th century). Women unbound their feet, some of which grew a few centimeters, but the process was painful and deformities remained. I have not seen anyone with bound feet, but I have heard that one staff member's female relative (mother or grandmother) has bound feet. Some women who are more than 70 or 80 years old may have had their feet bound, but it is unlikely that younger women would have deformed feet, as the current government enforces strict rules against the practice. Most of the generations with bound feet have passed away now.
China in the 1970s--wow! My city has changed so much in the 3 years I've been here, and in the 15 years our school has existed. To go back 30-40 years is like imagining a city in the United States more than 100 years ago. Have your parents ever been back? I think they would be shocked to visit some of the same places and see the changes.
Awesome plate! Great symbols. And the figures' stances tell so much about them. The Qiu Jin on the right is stumbling and limited. The Qiu Jin on the left is confident, calm, and collected. Was there a reason for the red?
James -
I read somewhere on the Brooklyn Museum website about Chicago's use of red and yellow/gold. Red is THE color of China, with yellow/gold as the accent. And then I realized that none of the women at the table represented Asia (apart from the Hindu goddess Kali), and even the heritage floor only showed Russian women when you search the tag "Asia". Of course, China and its knowledge base was not as accessible when Chicago and her volunteers were researching the women, but it seemed like a huge sector of women was missing! Not even any mention of Japan, Korea... So with it being Chinese New Year, I thought it only fitting to research and find a woman to honor from China. I found an empress, the only female to rule, but since she killed her own baby daughter and blamed it on the other wife to gain more power, I didn't really want to honor her.
Also, red is the color of paper used for paper cuts, so from the very beginning, I was envisioning a red and white image, dependent on positive and negative space.
I keep thinking that this China thing is going to get old. Like I'm a one-trick pony. And that one of these days, I will respond to a prompt and have nothing in my response reflect China. It will just be me, the WASP, blonde haired, blue eyed girl that moved from Cali to PA just before kindergarten. That ate soft pretzels, played teeball, and cheered for the Eagles. That went to college in Mennonite town, Pennsylvania, and had to dodge horse poop from the buggies on Sunday morning.
And then I realize that she doesn't exist anymore. I'm not me if I don't reflect the experiences of the past 2 1/2 years.
So my apologies that all my responses might be playing the Asian card, again...
Your plate design is amazing. So much information, yet so simple. The swirled line on her hat...does that mean anything? Or was that just part of the design extras to break up the white silhouette? I was actually looking at the red positive areas around the figures to see if there were any hidden images there. Would be neat if you could figure out a way to make a plate that had images that were created from the positive and negative spaces. Kind of like those optical illusions where you see one thing and then see another.
Steve -
The traditional figure is a combination of a fridge magnet I bought at Forbidden City and a paper cut design I saw online. The magnet has a flower on her hat, so I did the design to replicate the flower and to break up the silhouette. Hidden images--that would be awesome, but I didn't spend THAT much time on it. Drawing from my imagination, illustration, and designing patterns are not my strengths, so this plate was a challenge without any Escher-like duplicity.
Hello again! No, the parents haven't visited since then, but I can imagine there would be another world. What made you decide to go to China in the first place? Are you planning on staying there permanently?
-March
March -
Haven't made any permanent decisions. I originally signed a two-year contract. I'm now in my third year (the first year of my 2nd two-year contract). I'm leaning towards at least one more two-year contract, but haven't committed to anything. Beyond that, I'm very open to staying or to moving on.
For a partial story of how I came here, check out the page I made titled (the place). That's almost as concise as I can make the story. I also made a page called (the space) which shows some pictures of my classroom.