China Censured Photos and Videos at Galerie Paris-Beijing

“Temporary Boundary” at Galerie Paris-Beijing in Paris is a two-part survey showcasing a selection of photographs and video works by Contemporary Chinese artists that have been censured in their own country. These include Chi Peng, Gao Brothers, Liu Bolin, Mo Yi, Ren Hang, Zhang Dali, Liu Wei, Wu Junyong, Ma Yong Feng, Huang Xiang, Jin Shan, Chen Shaoxiong, Jiang Zhi, and Xu Yong.

The photography section has been curated by Romain Degoul, founder of Galerie Paris-Beijing, and the video section has been guest-curated by China Independent Film Archive (CIFA), a non-profit organization based in Brussels and Beijing that is devoted to the presentation and preservation of Chinese independent films.

The artists in “Temporary Boundary” have been censured and/or censored for either exhibiting works that present aspects of China’s culture, history, and society in an overtly critical, satirical, or cynical manner or for dealing with subjects that are taboo in China such as politics, sexuality, propaganda, revolt, and the country’s historical errors, the organizers say.

Highlights of the photography section include Mo Yi’s negative images of the 1989 Tiananmen square protests, the Gao Brothers’ image of an imagined meeting of history’s most notorious leaders, Liu Bolin’s “invisible” portrait of himself camouflaged into the Chinese flag, Zhang Dali’s investigations of Maoist propaganda, and Ren Hang’s poetic nudes and sexual scenes.

The film section highlights include Jiang Zhi’s video of Mao Zedong, Deng Ziaoping, and Jiang Zemin running, one after the other; Huang Xiang’s video of him carving the word “Demolition” in Chinese onto a man’s torso; Wu Junyong’s surreal, absurdist animated critiques of society’s cupidity and  pride, and American director Alison Klayman’s documentary film “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.”

“Temporary Boundary” is at Galerie Paris-Beijing in Paris until December 19.