Chen Qiulin's 'Heartland' at Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, Surveys Two Decades of Displacement
On display at Pingshan Art Museum in Shenzhen from May 30 to August 30 is "Heartland," a comprehensive overview of Chen Qiulin's artistic journey spanning over two decades. Originating from Wanzhou, Chongqing, Chen experienced displacement due to the Three Gorges Dam's completion in 2003, which submerged a significant portion of her hometown. Her notable works, such as "Farewell Poem" (2002) and "The Garden" (2007), delve into themes of memory and dislocation. "The Garden" depicts Chongqing's bangbang men with artificial peonies, representing lost homes. Additionally, her "Another Day" series (2014–16) highlights elderly women in rural Guizhou as families move to urban areas. The museum's setting underscores urbanization and the ongoing impact of displacement. This exhibition will be featured in ArtReview's October 2026 issue.
Key facts
- Chen Qiulin: Heartland runs at Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, from 30 May to 30 August
- The exhibition surveys more than two decades of Chen Qiulin's practice
- Chen grew up in what is now Wanzhou, a small county in Chongqing, southwestern China
- The Three Gorges Dam was completed in 2003, submerging close to half of Chen's hometown
- Farewell Poem (2002) was filmed at a demolition site in her hometown before it was submerged
- In Farewell Poem Chen dresses as Consort Yu, wife of the third-century BCE warlord Xiang Yu, performing passages from Farewell My Concubine (1918)
- The Three Gorges Dam project forced more than 260,000 Wanzhou residents to relocate within Chongqing
- The Garden (2007) features Chongqing's bangbang men carrying artificial peonies to a distorted soundtrack of Wahaha (1956)
- The Another Day series (2014–16) examines communities in rural Guizhou where elderly unmarried women remain in ancestral villages
- The exhibition appears in the October 2026 issue of ArtReview
Entities
Artists
- Chen Qiulin
- Xiang Yu
- Consort Yu
Institutions
- Pingshan Art Museum
- ArtReview
Locations
- Wanzhou
- Chongqing
- China
- Three Gorges Dam
- Guizhou
- Shenzhen