Ma Qiusha @ CAC Manchester

Last week I went to Manchester with my class… we went, it snowed, we were stuck on a 5-hour long train ride (Anna, you are not forgiven and your feeble apologies just does not cut it). We visited three galleries during our trip: the Eastcastle Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery and the Chinese Art Centre. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the works shown at the Manchester Art Gallery, and was even more unimpressed by the exhibition at the Eastcastle Gallery.

After lunch at the Teapot, we headed over to the Chinese Art Centre to check out Ma Qiusha’s solo show. Initially, I was disappointed by the small scale of the show (4 works... seriously?! I thought this was supposed to be a retrospective), and when it was explained to us that the works were chosen with the theme of ‘cutting’ in mind, I became even more dubious. My opinion changed, however, after talking to the artist herself.

It seems that these works have more to do with self-reflection and not that concerned with the curator-chosen theme of cutting. I found her works to be extremely visceral, provoking quite a strong reaction. And talking to Ma Qiusha herself, it became even clearer that these works acted as a personal diary, almost like an intimate letter addressed to her family… 

Two Years Younger Than Me

The first work that leads into the retrospective is Two Years Younger Than Me. The installation comprises of bottles filled with the beard clippings of Ma Qiusha’s grandfather. As an anti-hoarder myself, the storage of the beard clippings really repulsed me, but I could understand that this was an expression of mourning.

Two Years Younger Than Me

It was interesting to see the gradation through time, with her grandfather’s beard hair going from dark salt and pepper to light grey. It seems that the work is extremely personal, and Ma’s desire for the audience to appreciate the work in an abstract, visual way seemed lost on me. The bottles to me were empty, and the alignment of them did not give them any more meaning.

From No.4 Pingyuanli to No.4 Tianqiaobeili

Watching her work From No.4 Pingyuanli to No.4 Tianqiaobeili, I felt physically sick as Ma talks through the pain of razors cutting the insides of her mouth. With specks of blood seeping onto her teeth, the image was enough to make my stomach churn and I had no desire whatsoever to even listen to the audio. The pain expressed (and prompted by the razor) is reflective of the subject that Ma addresses in the video: the pressures placed upon the only child in a Chinese family to succeed. It was most interesting when Ma told us that Chinese audiences tend to listen intently to the story and only once it is revealed that she is speaking with a razor in her mouth do they re-watch it to watch her lips move in pain. In contrast, she says, non-Chinese audiences first notice the pain in her eyes and the reluctance of her mouth to speak and it is only to hear the story that non-Chinese audiences re-watch the film.

All My Sharpness Comes From Your Hardness

I recoiled once more as I watched All My Sharpness Comes From Your Hardness. Played on a 25-minute loop, the audio of the video this time was not optional. Listening to Ma’s skates go side-to-side along the harsh terrains of Beijing, one could sense the danger. The sound, when turned up to a very high volume, apparently sounds more like an airplane propeller… but even at the level it was sounded at, the intensity still persisted. The work is highly sensual, crossing back and forth between pleasure and pain. The work is playful and fun, yet there’s an element of sharpness, of pain and potential injury. Ma created this work by strapping herself onto the back of a motorcycle with a camera hoisted above her. Instructing the driver, the audience follows Ma’s oft-travelled journey from her grandmother’s house to her own place.

 Fog

Fog was the easiest out of the four works to take in. Essentially a black painting, the work conceals a delicate layer of curtain material that was taken from her childhood home in the Hutongs of Beijing. Playing with the idea of privacy and letting the light in through the window, the work employs a decidedly domestic motif. In lieu with the retrospective’s theme of ‘cutting’, a slash is made on the painting, interrupting the blackness of the work.

 Fog (a close up)

Ma Qiusha was an interesting artist to meet. She graduated with a BA from CAFA before getting her MFA from Alfred University. Her works have been widely exhibited nationally and internationally in places such as Pace, New York, Liverpool Biennial, Loop Gallery, South Korea and numerous solo exhibitions at Beijing Commune.

The exit of the museum referencing the address of her grandparents in the Hutongs of Beijing.