My Left Hand (with Young Mao)

2004

Qi Sheng 盛奇

(Chinese, b. 1965)

Culture

China, 21st century

Medium

chromogenic print

Measurements

Framed: 99.1 x 68.6 cm (39 x 27 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2012.102

Impression

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

In 1989, a pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square was brutally quashed by government forces, followed by suppression of avant-garde art activities and exhibitions. Performance artist Qi Sheng chose self-imposed exile when he could not continue making his art. Before leaving, he cut off the little finger of his left hand. He buried it in a flowerpot so that when his body went to Europe, his soul would remain rooted in China. Returning after ten years away, he photographed that hand cradling tiny portraits. This image of Mao Zedong suggests the origins of the political forces that led him to such a desperate act. “I am not only an artist,” said Qi, “I am an observer and recorder of history.”