Ma Qiusha's autobiographical art explores China's one-child generation through video and multimedia works

Ma Qiusha was born on March 23, 1982, in Beijing, just ten days after China's one-child policy became national law. Her autobiographical video From No.4 Pingyuanli to No.4 Tianqiaobeili (2007) uses a razor blade in her mouth as a metaphor for the generation's anxieties. The artist creates works containing 'knives,' 'roads,' and 'light' that reflect loneliness and complex family dynamics. Ma's early artistic training began with drawing classes at age seven, and her first teacher was Song Dong, who later selected her as a Future Great in 2015 and presented her debut institutional show Address at Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing in 2011. Her work appears in Performing Dramas at K11 Art Foundation in Shanghai, with a solo exhibition opening at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art on February 17, 2018. As a mother since 2013, Ma grapples with whether to have a second child under China's reformed policy. Her visual language conveys nuanced experiences through video, photography, installation, and performance. The one-child generation, now coming into positions of power, represents a unique demographic phenomenon globally.