My Left Hand (Mao)

Sheng Qi was one of the early pioneers in the body work and performance art movements in China. He fled the country after the suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests on June 4, 1989, for Europe and a period of self-exile. Disgusted with the oppressive cultural atmosphere and the banning of avant-garde activities by the government, he cut off his left pinky in an act of despair and buried it in a flower pot filled with Chinese soil. Although his body would travel abroad, a part of his soul would, thus, still be rooted in China, the country he deeply loved. He spent time in Europe earning a Master's degree from London's St. Martins College of Art and Design and returned to Beijing in 1998.

These two works are part of the series called Memories in which he takes old family photos and images from newspaper reports, reduces them in size and shows them in front of his mutilated hand. One is a childhood picture of himself taken during the Cultural Revolution, the other of Mao from the same period. While his damaged hand commemorates the June Fourth Movement, the small black and white photos are rememberances of the past associated with his childhood. They are powerful and disturbing images juxtaposing pain and sadness with idealized pictures from another time.