Female Self-Presence
Xiang Jing x Zhu Zhu
existence of antithesis. Back then, my two key themes were “intrusion” and “closing off.” I was always portraying intrusions of the outsideworld versus the closing off of an inner world. Then I got to my "Naked Beyond Skin" series, which includes the piece Are A Hundred Playing You? Or Only One? By that time I could at least direct my gaze toward my peers as a group. I even feel that this series was grappling with issues of intrinsic human nature and not with the issue of gender per se. I could see many aspects of our existential predicament and consider problems that were not merely personal. I saw how to work with shared existential issues to trigger inward contemplation by viewers. I hope that art’s gaze, no matter where it may be directed, can touch and stroke the pain of existence, while conveying concern and solicitude.
Zhu Zhu: I would like to know which pieces you consider to be of salient importance in this process.
Xiang Jing: Actually they are all important. I’m not belittling your question; it’s the truth. Artworks are like footprints, and sculpture is inherently slow. Each one is an indispensable segment along the way. I’m fond of those few early pieces, but regrettably I seldom get to see them. Bang! and other pieces from the 2002 exhibition, for instance. Your Body is definitely a representative, pivotal work.
Zhu Zhu: From expressions of constraint to concern for a group there is surely a connection, but also a leap. What triggered such a change? What was preserved amidst change?
Xiang Jing: Growing up brought an enlargement, as I mentioned, of the world that my gaze could take in. Yes, it should be thought of as a leap, as you say, in understanding of oneself, of womanhood, of people. But my concern for and my absorption in human beings has not changed.
In that original closing off there was a hint of refusal to grow up. I went through a long period when I refused to grow up, and I kept viewing the world through I child’s eyes. You can see that in many of my 2002 pieces. In After Yawn, I was obviously adopting the viewpoint of the little girl. Toy—Swimmer, Confinement, In Shallow Water, Freezing