The Hair Lock is currently showing at the group exhibition ‘Intimate Transgressions’ in Shanghai from Nov 1 – Nov 21.

 

 

Ten years ago I began working on a different kind of project, the difficult subject of violence against women during times of war and conflict. Longtime friend and lead curator for this project Fion Gunn convinced me . The narrative for Intimate Transgressions begins with the so named “Comfort Women” during WWII and extends to a global  present day conversation .  The exhibition traveled from New York to Beijing (I was local curator for the Beijing exhibition at Inter art gallery in 798 Nov 2015) to Hangzhou to Taipei. (2015-2016)

A walk with the Curators- Intimate Transgressions Beijing

 

Ten years later it is now a different rendition of the exhibition showing in Shanghai for the first time. It may have been an unlikely project for me yet it led me to attend a funeral of comfort woman Zhang Xiantu in Shanxi

Funeral of comfort woman Zhang Xiantu

It was at this funeral I met  amazing people working hard on this story such as the infatigueable school teacher Zhang Shuangbing whose research gathering  makes it difficult for these women to be forgotten. For over 30 years he wore out several bicycles crossing the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei, following the hints of villagers locating and encouraging these elderly women  to tell their painful stories.  I also met film director Guo Ke of documentary ‘Twenty Two’ released Dec 11th 2015  which tells the partial stories of the 22 surviving woman at that date. 

 

I knitted this hair lock from my own DNA , while working through the very delicate process many reflections on working with DNA come to mind, its strengths and fallibilities.

Here is an earlier blog on working with DNA as an art material 

This group exhibition is perhaps surprisingly inviting and is proof that art allows us to have difficult conversations. You can see different artistic approaches with different global references and perspectives.

I will add links of external publications on this as they emerge . 

Once again a huge thank you for the tireless work of Artist/Curator Fion Gunn , the lead curator and visionary for this collective project . And special thank you to Steve Chen who organised this exhibition and also to the people at Injoy Art Space and the Consulate General of Ireland in Shanghai