The China Project

159 Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese Collection LIU Jieqiong Liu Jieqiong was born in Yanchuan County, Yan’an, in Shaanxi Province — a region in which papercutting continues as a living tradition. She created her large-scale Story of the Red Army 2004 specifically for the Long March Project. 1 Mixing traditional Chinese motifs — flowers, animals and stylised figures — with communist regalia, Story of the Red Army depicts the original Long March (1934–35), which ended in Yan’an. Engaging with local history, this work re-examines the March, which has become inextricably bound with Chinese nationalist identity. Yan’an is known for the strength of its unique folk-art traditions, and is also associated with a ‘utopian’ period in the early history of the Chinese Communist Party. The 12 panels of Story of the Red Army are executed in a style typical of Shaanxi Province, with combined positive and negative space, lacking a single-point perspective, and with ornately decorative flora and fauna. Despite the appearance of soldiers with guns, the predominant effect is of a rural idyll: the soldiers’ eyes are formed of leaves and petals, while plants sprout beneath their feet and animals surround them in the trees and fields. Chinese papercuts often contain elaborate pictorial narratives in which visual symbols convey complex verbal meanings. Sometimes these derive from specific historical associations, or from the numerous occurrences of homonyms or tonal associations in the Chinese language. For example, the word ‘happiness’ ( xi ) is very similar to the word ‘magpie’ ( xi que ), and thus magpies are used to symbolise happiness. The papercut art form is well-suited to the now mythologised presence of the Red Army in Yan’an. In the first six panels, the Red Army arrive in the wake of battle, carrying guns and flags. In subsequent panels, a peaceful order is established, evident in symbols such as the bats and deer in the seventh and eighth panels, which signify good fortune ( fu is a homonym for bat and good fortune) and prosperity ( lu or prosperity is a homonym for deer). Other symbols represent strength and vitality (the rooster), surplus (fish), wealth (peony) and a quiet and peaceful life (chrysanthemum). In the ninth panel, a quartered circle — the symbol for eternity — is placed above a mother teaching her daughter the traditional art of papercutting, evidenced by the large-handled scissors between them. Traditional arts such as paper-cutting have generally been viewed by critics and historians as folkloric, with little value as contemporary forms of creative expression. However, writers such as Homi K Bhabha, Jyotindra Jain and Marian Pastor Roces have greatly contributed to a re-evaluation of folk-art forms by insisting that tradition and innovation are not mutually exclusive categories. 2 The attention paid to artists from both rural and urban environments, and the insistence that each has equal value, is also a particular interest of the Long March Project. Although papercut artists rely on collective motifs and patterns when creating their distinctive designs, the symbols, images and myths are, in each case, infused with a unique and personal vision. Liu Jieqiong’s innovative works interpret and expand the ancient Chinese practice of papercutting, and the result is a beautiful and dynamic interplay between past and present. endnotes Adapted from Abigail Fitzgibbons, ‘Liu Jieqiong’ in The 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art [exhibition catalogue], Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2006, pp122–125. 1 Initiated in 2002, the Long March Project is an ongoing initiative that organises international exhibitions, community-based programs and artist residencies. 2 See Homi K Bhabha, ‘How newness enters the world: postmodern space, postcolonial times and the trials of translation’, in The Location of Culture , Routledge, London, 1994, pp.212–35; Marian Pastor Roces, ‘Consider post culture’, in Beyond the Future: Papers from the Conference of the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art; Brisbane, 10–12 September, 1999 , Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2000, pp.34–8; and Jyotindra Jain, O ther Masters: Five Contemporary Folk and Tribal Artists of India [exhibition catalogue], Crafts Museum and the Handicrafts and Handlooms Exports Corporation of India, New Delhi, 1998. Story of the Red Army (details) 2004 Papercut, ed. of 6 / 12 parts: 225 x 432cm (overall) / Purchased 2006