Xibei Jia - Memories Woven in Flesh [click to view]

Memories Woven in Flesh (15 Images and a Video)

This page features 15 selected works from a segment of my ongoing painting practice from 2023 to 2024, along with a 2m24s video offering the audience’s perspective as they enter a reconstructed painting site—an old apartment intentionally staged to resemble my grandmother’s home. My oil paintings’ colors and textures primarily incorporate inspiration from vessels, skin, and scars to depict allegories of resilience, memory, and the enduring impact of trauma caused by both personal and collective gender-based violence in the past. These allegorical symbols include but are not limited to exposed bodies amidst ruins, flames as the binary of warmth and aggressiveness, and fragments of burnt letters. Inspired by Katharina Grosse’s exploration of the blurred boundaries between paintings’ pictorial space and physical space, as depicted in Dr. Gaiger’s Philosophy of Painting, I have been extending my allegorical symbols beyond the canvas. My work is also influenced by Doris Salcedo’s approach to materiality, where materials themselves carry symbolic weight. I apply oil paint onto diverse surfaces, such as rice paper mounted on canvas, to evoke the texture of aging skin. Meanwhile, I cast plaster into everyday frame-like shapes and sculpted them irregularly to evoke scabbed, festering wounds on the skin, as well as the weathered surfaces of ancient cave walls, which further symbolize the passage of time. In addition to their materiality, my paintings are intentionally installed in specific reconstructed sites, such as the old apartment staged to resemble my grandma’s home, with audiences invited to step into the sites. Together, the two spaces of paintings are connected to deconstruct the grand narratives of monumental imagery, typically confined to memorials or museums, into the context of everyday spaces.

IMAGE 1: Light, oil on canvas, 120x96cm, 2023

IMAGE 2: Floating, oil on canvas, 235x170cm, 2023

IMAGE 3: Tactile Fragment, oil on canvas, 120x96cm, 2023

IMAGE 4: Echoing Melody, oil on canvas, 170x235cm, 2023

IMAGE 5: Fading Bruise (1), oil on plaster, 16x15.5cm, 2023

上个月初腰上长了一块拇指大小的疹子，因为恰好长在和裤子边缘摩擦的地方，所以结的痂子会经常发痒，我就抑制不住反复抓破，导致它现在成为了一个淡淡的粉棕色的疤痕，它不会出血，只是反反复复地，淡淡地，柔和地发出刺痒来，间歇性地唤起我的注意。

其实人的膝盖上也常常不知道什么时候撞出来淤青或者刮擦的表皮口子，疼得很烈，但过段日子掀起来几次衣服看看就发现慢慢消去了，消失地很干净，不会像这疹子不厌其烦地叨扰。

就不由地想到这几个月来反复查看的许多网上能接触到的日本军医麻生徹男在《上海より上海へ》里记录的相片, 还有一些不知出处的或是被编入在《日寇暴行实录》当中日本人/韩国人或是中国兵拍下的场景：倒在乌黑破败的废墟里的女学生、运送女性的船只、被迫敞开的衣襟…若不是主动在查阅，这些信息可能就像起初那些让人疼得咬牙的淤青一样，在日常生活里消失得干净了吧……抱着这样的感觉，这些石膏相框慢慢地出现了，这些相框石膏底是我收集了些装裱小照片的相框进行倒模而成的，都是市面上可见的、很日常的、精美的样式，为了用这些生活里随处可见的框子记录一些“逐渐淡去的淤青”。

夕背 2023.8.15 摘自日记

Last month, a thumb-sized rash appeared on my waist. Because it happened to be at the edge of my pants, the scabs that formed would often itch due to friction, and I couldn't resist scratching it repeatedly, causing it to now become a faint pink-brown scar. It doesn't bleed, just occasionally, faintly, gently sending out a prickling itch, intermittently catching my attention.

In fact, bruises or superficial cuts often appear on people's knees without knowing when, causing intense pain. However, after a few days, lifting up the clothes a few times to check, one would find that they slowly fade away, disappearing very cleanly, not persistently bothering like this rash does.

This inevitably reminds me of the many photos I've been repeatedly viewing online for the past few months, such as those recorded by Japanese military doctor Aso Tetsuo in From Shanghai to Shanghai (上海より上海へ) as well as some scenes taken by unknown Japanese/Korean/Chinese soldiers, some of which are also included in the A Faithful Record of Atrocity of Japanese Troops (日寇暴行实录) : female students lying in the dark and dilapidated ruins, boats transporting women, open collars forced open... If not actively looking them up, this information might just disappear as cleanly as those initial bruises that made people grit their teeth in daily life... With this feeling, these plaster frames slowly appeared. These plaster frames were made by molding small framed photos I collected, all commonly seen, exquisite styles available in the market, to use these everyday frames to record some "gradually fading bruises.”

Sonia Jia 2023.8.15 Excerpt from the diary

IMAGE 6: Fading Bruise (2), oil on plaster, 22x15.5cm, 2023

Nationalist Government Military Committee, Political Department, eds. (1938). A Faithful Record of Atrocity of Japanese Troops. 日寇暴行实录.

IMAGE 7: Fading Bruise (3) , oil on plaster, 22x18cm, 2023

IMAGE 8: Fading Bruise (4) , oil on plaster, 22x18cm, 2023

Fading Bruise (5), oil on plaster, 30x29cm, 2024

IMAGE 9: Fading Bruise on the Table, oil on plaster, plaster size: 30x29cm, table size: 80x120cm, 2024

IMAGE 10 (with details on the right - click to zoom in): Bruise, Hair and Mirror, oil on plaster/silk/rice paper and canvas, room size: W189 x L230 x H250 cm, 2024

Fading Bruise (6), oil on plaster, 21x26cm, 2024

The Hair, oil on silk, 42x106cm, 2024

Flaws, unprocessed Chinese art paper, oil on canvas, 15x15cm, 2024

IMAGE 11: The Attachment, oil on canvas, painting size:150x200cm, room size: W345 x L425 x H250cm, 2024

IMAGE 12 (with details on the right - click to zoom in): room size: W333 x L425 x H250cm, 2024

Special Kinship, unprocessed Chinese art paper, oil on canvas, 64x80cm, 2024

Fading Bruise (10), oil on plaster, 19x14cm, 2024

IMAGE 13: Which Time is the Last Time, oil on plaster, size variable, 2024

IMAGE 14 (with details on the right - click to zoom in): Whispering Beneath the Grandma's Quilt, Canvas, rice paper, flame, found objects, 200x70cm, 2024

IMAGE 15: Shelf, oil on canvas, 175x63cm, 2024, closet size: 200x195x80cm

Video: Monumental Apartment, Duration: 2m24s, 2024