Qu Yan: Preserving fragments of China's recent past

Briony Kidd ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 05/18/2008 10:49 AM  |  Arts & Design

Chinese artist Qu Yan attended the opening of his exhibition, "The Power of Space", at Vanessa Art Link in Kuningan on Wednesday.

The artist and his wife, Wei Hong, met with local media and artists to discuss Qu Yan's latest photographic works. The couple live in Beijing and are visiting Indonesia for the first time.

Qu Yan recalls being impressed by the work of Indonesian painter Haris Purnomo in a recent exhibition in his home city. "It has some local symbols of the culture. Very different".

Qu Yan was born in Jiangsu Province in 1955. As a young man he studied art independently, honing his skills as he worked by day in a steel factory and then as an assistant teacher.

At the age of 30 he was accepted at Shanxi University to study oil painting and has been a practicing artist ever since.

There are two distinct collections of photographs in "The Power of Space". In the main part of the gallery we see Qu Yan's latest photographs, depicting makeshift churches in small villages in China.

In the second room are photographs, similar in style, from a 2007 series. Rather than churches, they depict offices: specifically, the offices of "village heads", small-time bureaucrats.

Head Office in Wuzhuang Village (2007), shows a shabby room, the whitewashed walls yellowing, the plaster cracked. A pair of muddy boots are next to a newspaper rack. An old thermos has been left under the desk, perhaps long ago. The portraits along the back wall are of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao.

Speaking through his wife, who acted as an interpreter, Qu Yan explained why he is showing these two collections of photographs together.

"Of the two, one is more like politics and the other is more like something about your spirit, your religion. Those are the two important things for people in a small village. One controls the spirit life, another affects your real life."

The images are like mini-documentaries, each photograph telling us about the people who use the space, whether Chinese Christians or a village head and his constituents.without people in the photograph you can imagine," said Qu Yan.

At first glance these images seem unremarkable, even banal. But when viewed up close, with full attention, telling details begin to emerge.

In Church in Yuezhuang Village (2008), there's something poignant and amusing about the way the makeshift church in a school classroom has been decorated.

Rough wooden benches are set up like pews, with a colorful cushion for each worshiper. A large red cross is in pride of place above the blackboard, while a banner covered with Chinese characters features a stylized image of Christ and his disciples at the Last Supper.

A pair of glasses are still on the altar (actually the teacher's desk) where the minister must have just left them, on top of a leather-bound Bible.

In Church in Huangzuang Village (2008), again a classroom, some of the cushions are made of old rice bags. A new television sits in pride of place near the blackboard, the box it came in nearby.

On closer inspection the artist and his old-fashioned tripod can be seen reflected in the small TV screen. A happy accident or a sly aside by Qu Yan: a comment on the nature of his own voyeurism?

But why photograph churches? And why choose these hidden, "underground" churches, rather than the larger ones of towns and cities?

Christianity is on the rise in China, says Qu Yan. While some churches are sanctioned by the government, say an allotted two or three in a good-sized town, people in remote areas may not have access to one.

Hence the need to make do, improvising with the space available and ignoring the requirement to register such establishments with authorities.

Qu Yan is fascinated by the faith and determination of these people. "the majority of people in China don't have religion," said the artist. "People used to believe in communism but now only the party members believe that."

He explains that a Christian tradition does not exist in every part of China, but lingers in areas where it was introduced by Europeans around a hundred years ago. "And now, when the government is not too strict on people, they start this again."

As an artist, he's interested in the inherent contradictions of Chinese Christianity. "The government really doesn't want too many people to believe this, or at least they won't encourage people to be Christians. The Buddha has been in China for thousands of years and the government expects (that religion), but when Christians first came to China there was a lot of opposition."

"And only some kinds of Christianity have been accepted by the government. If the people are going to the church built by the government, OK. So it's quite complicated. They all believe in God but somehow the government supports one group and not the other group".

Qu Yang explained that the worshipers of small churches like the ones he photographs are "not quite like the Christians in your mind". They practice a version of the religion that's all their own, mixing Christian ideas with early traditions, such as Buddhist or Tao beliefs.

The size of these photographs is important: large enough to feel you could almost step into them. As you look, you start to get a sense of the energy of each room; and it's tempting to call them "scenes" rather than rooms, so strongly do they evoke a narrative.

You begin to recognize an intangible feeling, a feeling that might be power; or perhaps it's just an echo of human activity. You get a glimpse of what has happened there, of what could happen.

Most of all, there's sadness to the emptiness, a forlorn quality. These rooms may be places of power, both "political" and "spiritual": but what does that really mean anymore? China has changed. The past is gone. And was the power of these rooms really ever real? Perhaps it was all just an illusion.

These works are multi-layered. You can choose to see them as merely "slices of life", an insight into a foreign culture, or you can look deeper.

Luckily for Qu Yan, the subtly of the images means they have avoided controversy in China, where they have been exhibited to critical acclaim.

(Meanwhile, his digital portraits of Chairman Mao, some of which are on display at Vanessa Art Link as a "sidebar", are still problematic. They can be exhibited, yes, but they tend to make gallery owners nervous.)

"In China it's very sensitive", said Wei Hong. "You cannot really criticize the government very directly. (With these photographs), if you know China or you know Chinese politics very well, you can really read from it. But if you don't know too much about it you probably think,"oh, that's an office'".

Such offices and churches exist, the photograph is of something real, so how can there be anything dangerous about it? "They don't quite understand why he's doing this, some people."

Qu Han says this kind of photography is becoming increasingly important in China, providing an important social record. "What he wants to do is record this, the true things there," said Wei Hong earnestly. "Because China has changed so much, and maybe two years later you cannot find places like that any more".

In this regard, Qu Yan is even more like a documentary filmmaker; preserving fragments of China's recent past.

But what of the occupants of the churches and offices? Qu Yan says things go pretty smoothly in smaller villages: "They don't quite understand what is going on, it's just taking a picture", he said.

In dealing with higher ranked officials, on the other hand, there's a good deal of suspicion. Qu Yan must explain over and over that he's not a reporter, he's just an artist.

Vanessa Art Link has a branch in Beijing. The gallery was set up to highlight the work of Chinese and Indonesian contemporary artists, with the aim of strengthening cultural ties between the two countries.

"The Power of Space"
Qu Yan
April 14-June 14
Monday to Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Sunday and holidays by appointment
Vanessa Art Link
Graha MIK,
Taman Perkantoran Kuningan,
Jl. Setiabudi Selatan Kav 16 - 17
Phone: (021) 57941411

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.