Book: Xiao Lu: First Gunshot of Chinese Feminist Art
Published by Frauenmuseum Bonn
Im Krausfeld 10
53111 Bonn I O Cultural Network e.V. + Bald Girls Group
Riederberger Strabe 58A
65195 Weisbaden
Catalogue Production
Article Authors: Juan Xu, Julia Heintz, Jerome, Gao Minglu, Claire Roberts, Wen Pulin, Monic Merlin, Tench Martin-Liao.
Catalogue Editors: Juan Xu, Xiao Lu, Julia Heintz.
Catalogue Coordination: Anyone Studio, Wu Yumo, Zhang Zeyangping
Catalogue Translation: Archibald McKenzie
Proofreading Editor: Wang Wei
Catalohue Design Supervision: Anyone Studio, Wu Yumo, Zhang Zeyangping
Art Direction: Xiao Lu
Book Design: Zhao Ye
Foreword
Chinese female artists have always brought a special energy to the Women’s Museum. They have not hesitated to depict societal conditions and political grievances with their characteristic clarity, using all their artistic means. This was evident in the project “Half the Sky,” organized by Qiu Ping and Chris Werner in 1998, when 25 Chinese female artists arrived, or in the exchange project with the Blue Roof Museum Chengdu and the Women’s Museum in Bonn (2014, 2016), and even more so in the presentation of the BALD GIRLS under the exhibition title “Single Moms” in 2013.
Jiny Lan, Li Xinmo, and Xiao Lu left no controversial topic untouched: the venerable Confucius was redefined or accused, and the taboo surrounding the female body, including sexuality, was fiercely contested by all means. Marriage, forced marriage, and self-determination were subject to a highly ironic video (by Xiao Lu). With their works, the artists have mastered the perfect balancing act between art, political insight, and engagement, without smoothing or harmonizing anything. Despite, or perhaps because of, their clarity, their works remain intriguing art. One can see that good art can withstand much, whether the shock of radicalism or the delicately poetic nudes painted with menstrual blood.
In their manifestation, the BALD GIRLS declare themselves to be the first feminist Chinese artist group. They have made an excellent name for themselves in the international art scene. Each of them is a universe unto herself. Xiao Lu combines personal destiny with the struggle of an artist into an impressive complex in her work. Xiao Lu’s project is exceedingly multifaceted and does not shy away from relationship turbulence. On the contrary, in her understanding of feminism, there is no success in a vacuum, liberated from male influence. She has long since taken up the fight!
My thanks go to the Chinese curator Juan Xu and the curator of the exhibition at the Women’s Museum, Bonn, Julia Heintz.
Marianne Pitzen
Director of the Women’s Museum Bonn
