Xiao Lu’s solo show “JUNK” open at passage gallery in Sydney

2024-08-23 10:13 0

Opening on June 14th, between 6PM-8PM is renowned performance artist Xiao Lu’s latest installation and performance ‘JUNK’ at passage Gallery in Sydney.

For her latest performance ‘JUNK’, Xiao Lu stands alone in the isolation of a black room. With only a black table, a bottle of ink, paper, and a brush, methodically, she will envelop herself and the room in a deluge of her discarded ink paintings. Gradually rubbish will fill the space and consume her. This powerful act is a stark commentary on the relentless censorship she has faced in her homeland, China, and the stifling creative constraints she endures in Australia.

“I have come from China, where there is a strict system of art censorship with untouchable red lines everywhere. The self-censorship of art organisations and artists erodes everybody’s spirit. The blackness surrounds me: terror, oppression, helplessness, anger, despair, freedom, roaring resistance...”

Xiao Lu, 2024.

Passage Gallery Website https://xiaolu.com.au/index.php?c=show&id=160

Radio Free Asia Reports：https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/australia-art-exhibit-junk-06172024135802.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR16jpWvijqv7vRQmFdJgk96j8qvYUzBhI9yWP44oyviyDW75OhtElXcIkk_aem_JZ1FZS6eoxe2PVKXC6cKyA

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Solo Show: JUNK
Artist: Xiao Lu
Work: JUNK (Installation/Performance)
Passage Gallery, Sydney
14 June -19 July 2024

About “JUNK”
A black room, visible round the clock from the outside through glass.
A black table, a bottle of ink, a brush-pen, several stacks of xuan paper. Eight red light bulbs.
I come to Passage Gallery irregularly. Using ink, I scrawl freely on sheet after sheet of xuan paper and then throw them in the air. Gradually, rubbish fills the space.
For thousands of years in China, literary scholars have moved in the detachment of painting landscapes and flowers-and-birds. Savouring the exquisite elegance of the otherworldly aesthetics of avoiding reality, they have achieved a nation which has seen generation after generation of centralized feudal and imperial power.
I have come from China, where there is a strict system of art censorship with untouchable red lines everywhere. The self-censorship of art organisations and artists erodes everybody’s spirit.
The blackness surrounds me: terror, oppression, helplessness, anger, despair, freedom, roaring, resistance...
And one other thing: it can go to fucking hell.
Junk!
— Xiao Lu

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