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Xiao Jin: 430 Life

Hanart TZ Gallery Today-Aug 30

Every work by Xiao Jin has a real life story to tell. In her 430 Life series, which is on show at Hanart TZ Gallery from today until the end of the month, the 30-year-old Beijing-based painter takes a surreal approach in portraying neighbours and classmates she has known since childhood.

'The 430 Life series is like a documentary,' Xiao says. 'It is about human survival and grew out of a concern for people.'

'430' is the name of a factory during the planned economy era. A community soon evolved around the building and Xiao grew up in this area where migrants from other parts of the country congregated.

The series includes six oil portraits of individuals who were once, or are now, living in the 430 village.

The woman featured in 430 Life, 2: Old School Campus, Love (right), was Xiao's classmate in junior high school who was traumatised after finding out that her father kept a mistress. Xiao blends her emotions, memories, dreams and imagination into her works.

'The old school has long been abandoned. In my imagination, I cleaned the place up and put the desks and chairs back in order,' Xiao says, explaining the background of the piece.

'For all of us, for her [the woman portrayed in her work] as well as me, our minds are storerooms,' she says.

'I've discovered that my painting is able to construct a world that is both mine and not mine. It seems to tell stories of the real world. But perhaps what I paint is merely my inner world.'

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