Being that I am a huge museum fanatic, none of the exhibits I have visited have consisted of such specific and meaningful themes as the artwork displayed in the “I Have No Enemies and No Hatred: Contemporary Chinese Dissident Art” at John Jay college. All the artists shared a common message amongst their artwork which was the idea of oppression faced in China.The artists used their art to convey these messages of social and political corruption in all different ways. Prior to visiting this exhibit I had not been very educated on the issues in China. After visiting the exhibit I began to do more research about the causes and learn so much more.
The work of art that I enjoyed most was Zhang Lei’s “Unlimited”. Zhang Lei aimed to communicate the violence against women. Not only did it symbolize abuse towards women, but as well as women’s lack of say in the culture. Zhang Lei based her work off of her own experiences as well as the situations she had witnessed. In China women were dependent on men entirely. In her artwork she used eyelashes to symbolize delicate women in China and attached meat cleavers at the bottom as the anchor to symbolize men. Coming from a culture that views females as inferior, I was able to relate to this art work. In the Albanian culture women are expected to be submissive housewives. After connecting
with Lei’s art, I had done more research on the topic of oppression faced by women in China. I learned about many practices such as foot binding that left women literally physically dependent on their husbands. This exhibit caused me to open my eyes and learn more about the ongoing problems around the world.