Sitting on the Wall: Haikou V
Weng Fen Chinese
Not on view
For Weng Fen, a schoolgirl serves as the avatar for a country in the throes of physical, social, economic, and political change—a collective self-portrait of China, and of the modern world. "These young girls are the mirrors of us," said Weng in a 2015 interview, before rising nationalism and a withdrawal from openness to the world took hold. "The distant cities are the by-products of modernization’s dream; in the eyes of people they represent civilization and modern progress. The city has become the religion of today. By calmly observing this ‘hyper-progress,’ I can then understand that men’s desires are the basis for social problems. The girls embody these desires, these needs. Through them, we are at the same time excited, puzzled, waiting."