Why Do We Hold ‘Family History’ Exhibitions in Today’s China?

On 30 March 2024, ‘Questioning Silence: A Trio Exhibition on Family Histories’ (追问沉默) by Chinese artists Lan Yi, Da Xi, and Huang Xiaoxing opened at Making Space (新造空间), an independent research-based contemporary art space on the southern banks of the Pearl River in Guangzhou, dedicated to socially engaged art through transdisciplinary collaboration. This was the second time that Making Space had hosted an exhibition centred on family history (家庭史), following Zhu Xiang’s ‘The Seaside Cemetery’ (海边墓园) in August 2023. Along with the exhibition, the three exhibition artists and the directors of Making Space also held a public-oriented workshop titled ‘Family Feast’ (家宴), structured as an invited dinner showcasing traditional dishes from the three artists’ hometowns. These events received extensive commentary and critique, not only from the art community but also from the public. The overwhelming interest in family history demonstrated by Chinese audiences led us to exchange ideas about our own different practices via various media forms.

In this essay, we reflect on our initial motivation to hold this exhibition as artists and curators. We discuss how our understandings of family history and ways of exploring it have evolved and been enriched during the preparation and execution of the exhibition and through our collaboration. The piece examines the methodologies of doing family history, the challenges we encountered, and the layered emotions that emerged throughout the process. We conclude by considering the significance of family history exhibitions in China and their potential future directions.

Instead of providing critiques of the artworks themselves, we seek to answer the following questions: What is the significance of constructing and reconstructing family history? Why is this necessary in contemporary China? For whom is it intended, and how should it be approached? We argue that our individual journeys in re-examining family history constitute explorations of China’s past and family power dynamics through personal lenses. This process highlights the agency and resilience of often marginalised and neglected voices.

Introducing the ‘Questioning Silence’ Exhibition

Held from 30 March to 30 May 2024, the ‘Questioning Silence’ exhibition featured artistic works reflecting the family histories of the three contributors: Lan Yi, Da Xi, and Huang Xiaoxing. While we refer to all three as ‘artists’, it is important to acknowledge that only Lan Yi is a full-time independent artist, whereas Da Xi is a researcher, and Huang Xiaoxing works for a nongovernmental organisation and is an anthropologist.

In the exhibition, Lan Yi’s section (see Figures 2–4) included a timeline drawing of her grandmother’s life-course, a collaborative video work with her mother, and an installation featuring various physical materials related to her grandmother. Da Xi’s section (see Figures 5–7) focused on her grandfather’s autobiography, complemented by her own responses and those of other family members. Huang Xiaoxing presented a collage of writings and woodcuts reflecting on the relationships between his maternal grandfather, his mother, and himself (see Figures 10–11).

Alongside the exhibition, we organised the above-mentioned publicly oriented workshop titled ‘Family Feast’. During the gathering, the artists shared their intentions, experiences, and emotions related to the project, and attendees, including Lan Yi’s parents, shared their own reflections.

‘Family History’ in Chinese Contemporary Art

The ‘Questioning Silence’ exhibition follows a long tradition of exploring family history in Chinese contemporary art. Since the 1980s, when China transitioned to a more open and economically driven era, the contemporary art scene has evolved significantly. The ‘avant-garde’ movement introduced innovative ways to critique society and artistic creation (Zou 2002; Gao 2006). By the 1990s, contemporary art in China had flourished, engaging with various themes, including family history.

In the 1990s, there were only a few visual artists whose works centred on ‘family’. The artists were similar in age, and their family-themed paintings or photographs interrogated the relationship between the individual and national politics through images of a typical Chinese family, whose structure was defined by a single policy of a particular era: the One-Child Policy, which remained in force from 1979 to 2015. Under the policy, with some exceptions, including for ethnic minorities and some rural households, each Chinese family could only have one child, which was also held up as the ideal family model for the country. As a result, the ‘two parents and one child image’ became the stereotypical family portrait.

One well-known work was Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: The Big Family (1993; see Figure 9). The solemn portrayal reverberates with the One-Child Policy by illustrating the parents and the only child in the painting. Like Zhang Xiaogang’s work, Wang Jingsong’s photograph Standard Family (1996; see Figure 8) used the same portrait style to highlight the special form of the modern Chinese nuclear family. While Wang Xingwei’s series All Happy Families Are Similar (1994) adopted a different style, the main theme of his work is also closely related to the works above.

During the same period, Lin Tianmiao’s Family Portrait (1998) used readymade objects such as a bike in installation. Besides talking about the family as a whole, her work also illuminates the unequal position and circumstances of the woman in a family. In these works, the family is a generalised concept. In comparison, Song Dong’s Touching My Father (1997–2011) and The Waste Not (first displayed in 2005) take a closer look at the relationships and perceptions within the family, featuring his father and mother.

In these earlier works, the ‘family’ is depicted as a complete and solid entity, with its general structure left intact. These works do not critically deconstruct the notion of family history or its underlying social structures. Instead, they aim to explore and represent the broader meaning of the family as a whole.

In contrast, in recent years, some artists have approached family history as a means of moving from a general understanding to a more critical reconstruction. For instance, Singaporean artist Sim Chi Yin’s One Day We’ll Understand (2011–) is a series of works using family history as a starting point to uncover a hidden chapter of the Cold War in Southeast Asia, particularly in what are now Malaysia and Singapore. Through materials such as photographs, archival documents, and letters, Sim retraces her grandfather’s journey and experiences in China after he was exiled from present-day Singapore by the colonial British Malayan Government. Her project offers a deeply personal and moving exploration of self-discovery and historical inquiry.

‘One Day We’ll Understand’ shows that family history can be a medium for interrogating reality and contemporary society. Along with these works and the exhibits in Making Space, artists explore the history of migration within the family or cooperation between family members. This approach also shows us the necessity of family history as a working method: the historical scene can be reproduced in the present, and people can be rediscovered and reclaimed. The audience are not only spectators in other people’s stories; they can also take actions to explore their own family history. The family history here not only acts as a historical period that can be used for chasing the ‘truth’ of people lost to time; it also shows the possibility of understanding family and oneself through a radically different approach. This method of uncovering the stories and critically reflecting on the history and the experiences of family members gives us a way to see the various lives, people, and family histories through the respective artworks.

‘Family History’ as Way of Creating

According to the introductory text to ‘Questioning Silence: A Trio Exhibition’ written by the three artists, family history is often perceived as a concealed domain, shrouded in secrecy and silence. The exhibition aims to remove this veil (Family History Working Group and Making Space 2024). When You Piao, an artist and founder of Making Space, and Xu Binghuang, a curator and co-author of this essay, initiated the family history program, they were searching for a space within contemporary art to freely engage with what they saw as some of the complexities of contemporary society. However, during this process, they encountered various barriers that made it difficult to access, reinterpret, or present family histories, both in political contexts and in personal narratives. While state censorship posed challenges for the creators, personal trauma and conflicted emotions associated with family history also contributed to self-censorship.

Xu and You also observed a lack of knowledge within the Chinese art scene about how to locate, critique, and reconstruct family history. For them, family history should not only serve as a medium for personal expression but should also engage with broader social contexts and historical legacies. Their family history–oriented practices revealed diverse interpretations, structures, and definitions of the family. However, they also noted that many individuals remain unaware of the political power underpinning the state’s grand historical narrative, often leading to self-censorship and a reluctance to share complete stories. Through this exhibition, we seek to expand the meaning of family history beyond archival records, demonstrating its potential to foster participatory relationships within families and encourage self-discovery.

For Lan Yi, this family history project emerged from her desire to explore her grandmother’s life stories. For Da Xi, her initial goal was straightforward: she wanted to publish a book based on her grandfather’s autobiography. For Huang Xiaoxing, his approach involved intertwining his family’s history with his mother’s and grandfather’s stories through woodcut printmaking and fiction writing.

These distinct intentions engage in dialogue with one another, evolving throughout the creative process. In the introduction to her exhibition, Lan Yi describes her artistic process as a journey towards reclaiming her agency. In Da Xi’s case, her focus expanded beyond her grandfather to include other family members, such as her mother, aunt, uncle, cousins, and father. Huang Xiaoxing’s archival exploration of his grandfather’s past serves to ‘unearth the roots of daily violence that persist across generations, seeking possibilities for reshaping the future’ (Family History Working Group and Making Space 2024). His reinterpretation and organisation of materials reveal underlying tensions between himself and his mother.

Family History as a Creative Methodology

The collaborative nature of this highly emotionally charged project fostered different forms of inspiration for the artists. For Da Xi and Huang Xiaoxing, this marked one of their first artistic engagements in an exhibition space. Da Xi, formerly an ethnographer, shifted her positionality from that of a researcher to that of a peer, engaging with artists and friends from her fieldwork in Guangzhou and receiving feedback from them.

Lan Yi employed sociological methodologies, including a timeline drawing of her grandmother’s life. Born in the late 1920s in rural Hunan, Lan Yi’s grandmother underwent sterilisation surgery after her seventh child in the early 1960s and was detained in Guangxi during the mid-1960s on charges of ‘counterrevolution’, which led her to experience a severe decline in mental health. In the 1990s, after her husband (Lan Yi’s grandfather) filed for divorce and remarried, she was hospitalised in Hainan. The exhibition featured the only existing photograph of Lan Yi with her grandmother, alongside an installation built from a pile of pills used to treat her grandmother’s mental illness, her grandparents’ divorce papers, and a large painting of an astrolabe set. These elements reflected Lan Yi’s attempt to reconstruct her grandmother’s personality and legacy despite the lack of records and family silence. When Lan Yi’s grandmother passed away, her belongings and memories of her were discarded or fell into neglect; even her name, Su Mei, was unknown to Lan Yi until after her death in 2010.

The exhibition process deepened our collective understanding of family history through interactions with art practitioners using diverse media, as well as engaged audiences. Life history methodology emerged as a common thread. Although unplanned at the outset, both Lan Yi and Da Xi conducted interviews with family members, incorporating their voices into their work. Lan Yi collaborated with her mother on the video Waves, Soliloquy (14:02 mins), while Da Xi worked with her cousin on the audio piece Bedtime Stories (5:52, 12:08 mins). Huang Xiaoxing, through woodcut printmaking, reimagined conversations with his mother and grandmother.

The exhibition’s deeply personal and emotionally charged nature required trust and mutual understanding. Even within a supportive environment, sharing intimate narratives was difficult. Da Xi, for instance, hesitated before committing to the project, and all three artists grappled with exposing private moments to both general audiences and their own families.

Emotions ran high not only among the artists but also among visitors. During exhibition openings and the ‘Family Feast’ workshop, attendees expressed strong reactions. Lan Yi’s parents were present, and her mother shared a particularly moving reflection. Initially, she struggled to understand why Lan Yi chose to highlight her maternal grandmother, Su Mei, rather than her grandfather, a well-regarded scientist. At home, Su Mei’s name was rarely mentioned. However, after seeing the exhibition, she said with emotion that, through her daughter’s work, she had finally ‘seen’ her mother.

Why Do ‘Family History’ Exhibitions Matter in Today’s China?

Our motivation for this exhibition stemmed from a fundamental instinct: to uncover interwoven clues linking the past to the present. Despite the home being an intimate space where personal histories unfold, many aspects of family narratives remain obscured or overlooked. We sought to shed light on these hidden stories, as shown in the notes and reflections left by visitors to the exhibition.

The exhibition space provided a temporary yet powerful setting to bring forth individuals and histories often left unspoken in daily life, social circles, and family contexts. This was achieved not only through the presentation of materials but also through the artists’ interpretations and translations. Moving beyond conventional ‘family’ narratives, we reinterpreted history through a critical lens, incorporating alternative perspectives such as feminism. By challenging dominant historical narratives, we aimed to reconstruct family history as a means of both personal and collective empowerment.

The works showcased in the exhibition examined how institutional forces shape family memory, transform familial relationships, and contribute to misunderstandings and conflicts across generations. These forces, whether explicit or subtle, are transmitted through time, influencing personal identity and daily life. Through artistic practice, family history emerges as a way to respond to historical violence and reclaim agency.

Additionally, the public nature of this exhibition was deeply rooted in the artists’ personal intentions to reconnect with their families, redefine familial relationships, and reposition themselves within their histories. Engaging with deeply emotional and thought-provoking narratives required significant courage. Inviting family members to participate, contribute, and review these projects further deepened the artists’ personal connections.

Rather than providing definitive answers, our work sought to pose critical questions. While family history has not been a common theme in contemporary Chinese art, we hope our efforts will initiate broader discussions on this approach to artistic creation. Family, as a subject, is both an intimate and a universally relatable field—one in which everyone can engage and enact change. As noted by participants at the ‘Family Feast’ workshop, despite the emotional complexities involved, our work has inspired others to explore their own memories, identities, and histories. Ultimately, our experience suggests that the practice of family history should extend beyond the art gallery, fostering broader dialogue and deeper engagement within society.

Featured Image: A film photograph capturing the exhibition’s public space, overlaid with an image of the artist installing the works. Source: Ruoxi Liu.

References:

Da Xi 大曦. 2024. ‘对沉默的两种回答 [Two Kinds of Responses to Silence].’ 新造空間 [Making Space] WeChat account, 17 May. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6j9XCsbWuUrEpJX22cfenA.

Family History Working Group and Making Space. 2024. ‘展览预告 | 追问沉默: 家庭史三人展 [Exhibition Preview | Questioning Silence: A Trio Exhibition on Family History].’ 新造空間 [Making Space] WeChat account, 27 March. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ZzaGRK-CY6bHTCYnjIr1gQ.

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Xu, Binghuang 许冰煌. 2024. 光所在之处––家庭与(历)史 [Where the Light Shines––Family and (Lived) History]. 新造空間 [Making Space] WeChat account, 7 July. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qkg2rhY_Im0HUBlPawCbTg.

Zhu, Xiang 朱湘 and Making Space 新造空間. 2023. ‘展览预告 | 朱湘: 海边墓园 [Exhibition Preview | Zhu Xiang: The Seaside Cemetery].’ 新造空間 [Making Space] WeChat account, 8 August mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sRDNixK9LpM-DPDj2o1AVQ.

Zou, Yuejin 邹跃进. 2002. 新中国美术史, 1949–2000 [A History of Chinese Fine Arts, 1949–2000]. Changsha: Hunan Meishu Chubanshe.