XIAO LU: FIRST GUNSHOT OF CHINESE FEMINIST ART
Exhibition: Xiao Lu: First Gunshot of Chinese Femnist Art
Artist: Xiao Lu
Curators: Juan Xu, Julia Heintz Marianne Pitzen
Opening: 9 November 2025
Exhibition time: 10 November 2025 - 8 February 2026
Location: Bonn Women Museum, Germany
Opening from left: Julia Heintz, Juan Xu, Xiao Lu, Marianne Pitzen Photograph: Pu Kangping
Foreword
Xiao Lu: First Gunshot of Chinese Feminist Art – The Awakening of a Feminist Avantgarde
Xiao Lu never raised her voice — she fired a shot. In 1989, with two bullets, she shattered not only a pane of glass but also the silence surrounding women’s autonomy in Chinese art. At the time, she did not speak of feminism. Only years later, through a slow struggle with her own experiences of violence, dependence, and self-assertion, did she find words for what had always lived at the heart of her work.
The #MeToo movement reached her like an echo crossing continents — suddenly, her personal story resonated within a global chorus of voices. Her art, always radically personal, acquired a new political edge. This exhibition traces the path of an artist who turns her own life into a manifesto — uncompromising, vulnerable, and unrelenting all at once.
Curators: Juan Xu, Julia Heintz, Marianne Pitzen
Director of Bonn women Museum Marianne Pitzen speech on opening Photograph: Pu Kangping
Curator Julia Heintz speech on opening Photograph: Shi linxin
Curato Juan Xu speech on opening Photograph: Shi linxin
Artist Xiao Lu speech on opening Photograph: Shi Linxin
Audience give flowers to Juan Xu and Xiao Lu Photograph: Shi Linxin
Opening view Photograph: Shi Linxin
Opening from left: Julia Heintz, Juan Xu, Liao Tianqi, Xiao Lu, Hong lin, Marianne Pitzen Photograph: Shi Linxin
Exhibition view, video of China Avant/Garde exhibition, offern by Wen Pulin
Exhibition view, left; Protest (Photo) 2019 Hong Kong, right: Skew (Performance photo) 2019 Hong Kong
Exhibition view: Dialogue (novel)