Cui Xiuwen's strength and certainty seems to have naturally transformed into a desire of home, of having a family, and in a wish, difficult to admit but naturally inevitable, of maternity. This is what the images of her last photographic series, "Angel," inspire. The protagonist is still a young girl, because at the end the spirit of people never changes and we try to remain children forever.

This series of photos doesn't want to express a social and universal disquisition but rather the awareness and the realization of individual and singular feelings. How does a young mother in China in 2006 feel?

The artist and her young model have been able to recreate strong emotions. Rows of white young girls, ghost like girls, the same girl obsessively repeated, "angels" lined up in a circle of the Hell or up in the Heaven, according as we wanted to condemn or absolve them. Alone, staring at the horizon, with their dresses moving with the wind and their feet immersed in the water or straight in front of a fire red wall with the firmness of a Giovanna D'Arco ready to face any kind of difficulties but unable to hide the incumbent solitude. Scared and worried in a procession that goes from the Forbidden City and continues on what can be a highway such as the Beijing ring road or the expressway to the airport. Blind and gropingly, with History and Mao's Mausoleum at their backs, while in front of them is just darkness. (ArtZine China)

About Cui Xiuwen

Cui Xiuwen, born and traditionally educated in North-East China has worked in a wide range of media, including oil painting, video and photography. At the beginning, in her birth province Heilongjiang her style of painting - a kind of post-expressionism with sexually tinted metaphors was considered too explicit, so she tried her luck in the more open-minded Beijing. She continued engaging themes of sexuality and gender as well as the blurred boundary between public and private. She investigates identity and cultural sexual stereotypes. Her images of eroticized, apathetic women and prebubescent girls are at once both modern and Chinese. Currently she lives in Beijing, China.

Video, images and text courtesy of Galeria Moriarty (Madrid, Spain), 88 MOCCA, DF2 Gallery (Los Angeles, CA, United States), Marell Art (Milan, Italy) and ArtZine China.

CUI XIUWEN

1970 Born in Haerbin, China

1996 Graduated from the Oil Painting Department Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
1990 Graduated from Fine Arts Department of Northeast Normal University

Solo Exhibitions

2007
Quarter: Cui Xiuwen solo exhibition. Florence Museum, Italy
Angel, Cui Xiuwen's solo show. MARELLA GALLERY, MILANO

2006
Cui Xiuwen. DF2 Gallery. U.S.A. Opens in L.A.
Cui Xiuwen solo exhibition. Marella Gallery, Italy; Beijing

2005
Cui Xiuwen. Marella Gallery. Italy. Opens in Beijing

Group Exhibitions

2007
Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves. ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
Floating: New Generation of Art in China. National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea, Seoul
China Under Construction: Contemporary Art from the Peoples Republic. Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
Chinese Video Now. John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK
Leoll Ecran ou la Nouvelle Image. Casino Luxembourg, Forum d art contemporain, Luxembourg
Zhu Yi! Fotografia actual en China. ARTIUM, Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain
China Ladies. Galeria Moriarty, Madrid, Spain.
Premonition. J&Z, Shenzhen,China
China: Facing Reality. MUMOK Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria
China New Media Arts Exhibition. Bundeskanzleramt, Vienna, Austria
Todays Documents. Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Shanghai Art Fair. Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China
The Third Chengdu Biennale. Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China
Transform Of Dragon: Independent photography and video exhibit of 798 Art Festival, Beijing
GANA PHOTO FESTIVAL. Gana Art Center, Seoul, Korea
ARTIST IN THE WONDERLAND. The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre. Gdansk, Poland
China Square. New York, USA
Historias Interrumpidas. Video Art Exhibition. Valencia, Spain
Zoom on China. Group show on Chinese photography. Vanvitelliano, Brescia, Italy
Milan MiArt Exhibition. Milan, Italy

2006
They discovered that the Camera is better than the Paintbrush. LONGRUN ART Beijing China
IDAA International Digital Art Award. QUT ART MUSEUM. Australia
Plato and his seven spirits. OCT Contemporary art terminal. Shenzhen. China
Mialignements: Video and Performance Art Documenta from the PRC. Center for Chinese Studies, Berkeley, CA
Engagements and Estrangements: Video Art from China. Chinese Contemporary Xchange, Toronto, ON
Jiang Hu. Jack Tilton Gallery, NY
NEW Media 1965 to 2995: Selected Works from the Centre. Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
China: Zwischen Vergangenheit und Zukunft. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
The Sixth International Photography Month in Moscow: Photo biennale
The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now. P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, NY, USA; Contemporary Art Center, Long Island; Platform China, Beijing
Seoul Internationl Photography Fetival. Seoul, Korea
Between Past and Future. New Photography and Video from China. Nasher Museum, Duke, USA.
Woman in a society of double-sexuality. Bangkok, Thailand
Between the observer and the observed. Lian Zhou International Photography Annual Exhibit. Lian Zhou, Guangdong

2005
1965-2005, collection of new media from the Centre Pompidou. la Caixa Forum, Barcelona, Spain
Body Temperature: Invoking the legacy of Hans Christian Anderson through Chinese Contemporary Art. Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg
Cloud Rain. Beijing Art Now Gallery
Scenes de vie. Centre culturel Suisse, Paris, France
Contour: 2nd Biennal for Video Art. Mechelen
Electroscape International. Zendal Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai
Loft Of Language. Beijing Three Quarters Gallery
Vehicle & Mirror. Beijing New Art Projects
Art: What was makebelieve has become true. Plato and It's Seven Genius Exhibit. OCT Contemporary Art Centre, Shenzheng, China
Lianzhou International Photo Festival. Lianzhou, Guangdong
Between Past and Future. New Photography and Video from China. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Second Triennial Of Chinese Art. Archaeology of the future. Nanjing, China
Always to the Front: China Contemporary Art. Guandu Art museum, Taipei
Techno orientalism. Tokyo Gallery, 798 district, Beijing

2004
Untitled: Julia Loktev, Julika, Cui Xiuwen. Tate Modern, Londen
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China. International Center of Photography and Asia Society, New York, USA
Cui Xiuwen, Kan Xuan Video Exhibition. Museum Art Contemporary Bordeaux, France
Situations Construites. Attitudes, espace d arts contemporains, Geneva, Switzerland
China: Video generation. Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris
Out the Window: Spaces of Distraction. The Japan Foundation Forum, organized by the Japan Foundation Asia Center
Spellbound Aura: The New Vision of Chinese Photography. Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
China, the Body Everywhere? Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseille, France
The 11th Nippon International Performance Art Festival. Japan

2003
New Zone Chinese Art. The Zacheta National Gallery, Poland
City Net Asia 2003. Seoul Museum, Korea
Alors, la China Center Pompidou, Paris, France
Prague Biennale 1: Peripherles Become the Center, Prague
Guangyin. Viterbo, Italy
Out of the Red. Marella gallery, Milan, Italy
EVERYDAY: Contemporary Art From China, Japan, Korea, Thailand. Denmark
The First Israel Internation Image Biennale. Israel

2002
The First Guangzhou Triennial. Guangzhou, China
Sorry for the Inconvenience. Project 304, Bangkok, Thailand
Under_Construction. The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo, Japan
C'est pas du Cinema. Studio National, Paris, France
The 2nd Women's Art Festival. Seoul Women's Community Center, Korea
Run Jump Crawl Walk. The High Seas Art Center, Beijing, China

2001
Up Rice. Museum of Site Most. Hong Kong
Dialogue: Others. Bari City Museum, Italy
Made in China. Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York. USA
Dialogue with Dali. France Gallery, Shanghai, China
Cross-Pressure. The Oulu City Art Museum, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Finland
Constructed Reality. Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong
Beijing with Contradiction. The Oulu city art museum; The Finnish museum of photography, Finland
China Germany New Media Art Week. Zang Ku New Media Art Centre, Beijing

2000
Australia New Media Exhibition. Australia New Media Art Department
Post Material. Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
About Me. New Vision Gallery, Shanghai, China
Today's News. Art Commune, Hong Kong
Back Substance Video Exhibit. Red Gate Gallery, Beijing