%C2%A9 Zhang Huan Studio%2C courtesy The Pace Gallery
1/2 (Text), 1998
Zhang Huanexpand_more
C-printexpand_more
Gift of Gordon Locksley and Dr. George T. Sheaexpand_more 2010.9
Not on Viewexpand_more
Shortly before Zhang Huan left his native China to temporarily relocate to the United States, he performed a work of art in which he invited friends to write phrases or words on his face and body with black ink. In this resulting self-portrait, Huan's ethnicity is literally inscribed on his body. Yet for most Western viewers the text is unreadable. 1/2 (Text) is a visual metaphor for the difficult transcultural experience upon which Zhang was about to embark. As an Asian body circulating within a Western culture, would Zhang himself be as difficult to understand as his language' He said, "The body is the only direct way through which I come to know society and society comes to know me. The body is the proof of identity. The body is language."
Details
- Title
- 1/2 (Text)
- Artist Life
- born 1965
- Role
- Photographer
- Accession Number
- 2010.9
- Curator Approved
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© Zhang Huan Studio, courtesy The Pace Gallery