Lin Tianmiao is praised as being one of China's most influential and successful female artists in contemporary practice. Establishing herself in both the domestic and international art market, Lin Tianmiao's global success rivals that of her male contemporaries such as Ai Wei Wei, Yue Minjun, and Xu Bing to name but a few. Lin Tianmiao is best known for her work with fabric, namely white cotton and silk. Many of her works involve the process of 'binding', in which the artist covers various objects in multiple layers of thread. This process holds an ominous quality, as Sam Gaskin notes that 'the act of slowly, precisely binding items with thread seems like it could be either a kindness or an aggression, applying bandages or bonds.' (1) In the interview with Gaskin, Lin states, 'because the work takes a long time, I have all these feelings: smothering, protecting and transforming.'(2) These contrasting elements may be understood as representing Lin's conflicting feelings about the Chinese society in which she produces her artworks. Lin's binding process can be understood as a protecting of the past, albeit in a constricting and stifling manner.
Lin Tianmiao's fascination with thread winding and binding stems from her childhood experiences. As a child, Lin helped her mother to wind thread and sort it into balls. Although this was a task that Lin recalls resenting, it is an exercise which continually returns to in her own artistic practice. Lin's nostalgic longing for a way of life gone-by is a recurrent theme in work, often combined with a poignant critique of the present and technological, economic and industrial changes in contemporary China. By investing herself in such a large, time consuming and meticulous projects, Lin Tianmiao distances herself from her surroundings while simultaneously tackling societal issues. Lin’s work can be seen to embody the dual qualities of soft and gentle with a threatening and even violent undertone.
Lin began her professional career during uncertain socio-political times in China, following the collapse of the Cultural Revolution. During the mid 1990s, Lin and her husband, conceptual and video artist Wang Gongxin, lived and worked in a compact apartment in Beijing. In an interview with Luise Guest, Lin Tianmiao stated that she was 'disturbed by many aspects of contemporary China—the food scares, the pollution, the politics.'(3) Despite this however, Lin also explained that she could not become an artist until she had returned to China from her time in America, specifying that 'It is my country, and it creates such strong feelings in me.'(4) Returning from New York in 1995, Lin Tianmiao and Wang Gongxin were coming back to a rapidly changing and developing Chinese culture and economic climate. The China that they had left when migrating to America was becoming a relic of the past, with technologies, objects and sensibilities becoming obsolete.
In Lin Tianmiao’s Bound and Unbound, (1995-1997), the artist battles with the idea of preservation and nostalgia. Bound and Unbound consists of approximately 800 household objects and utensils, which were tightly bound in white cotton thread. Often displayed above the objects was a video installation of the artist's hands cutting thread with a large and threatening pair of scissors was projected onto a screen created by thousands of tautly stretched thread either wrapped around perpendicular horizontal poles, or hanging from the ceiling.
Sun Yunfan, in an interview with Lin Tianmiao, discusses the cultural and historic importance of white cotton thread in a Chinese context. The material holds a special resonance for the generations during the 1960s and 70s, 'when Chinese economic central planning was at its height.' During this time, white cotton gloves were distributed among state owned work units, with Sun stating that, 'the old uniforms and gloves were valuable commodities that could be exchanged with relatives and friends.'(5) For Bound Unbound, Lin uses signature white cotton to meticulously bind a range of domestic objects. Lin Tianmiao produced Bound Unbound during years which China was becoming internationally known as a centre for mass production. This rapid acceleration into the global market prompted nationwide urbanization, and society and living circumstances for Chinese citizens was quickly changing. These objects, which 'belonged to a class of once coveted domestic necessities that were rapidly becoming obsolete', are transformed into relics of a bygone era, doubly through the use of white cotton. (6) Sun further supports the notion that Lin's treatment of these objects emphasizes a respect for these quotidian objects, stating that 'the wrapping has the effect of gently dignify the thrift, self-reliance, and domestic skills they embodied, even as these virtues were under assault in China's aggressively commercial, rapidly modernizing cities.'(7) Lin eloquently transforms once essential daily objects into remnants and reminders of the past through a process of intense thread binding. Sarah Suzuki notes that Lin Tianmiao's wrapping of ordinary objects, as in Bound and Unbound, is like a 'Zen-like, meditative action, turning them into monochromatic, ghostly still lives'.(8)
As previously discussed, Lin's use of white cotton held various connotations in Chinese society, and the use of silk in more recent pieces similarly holds a number of cultural associations which strengthen and deepen meaning in her work. The significance of silk, in Chinese culture as discussed by Luise Guest, was 'a measure of wealth and opulence, a sign of social status, a bargaining chip with western nations, a symbol of China's imperial past rejected during the revolutionary era.'(9) Therefore, Lin's later practice seeks to reassert the beauty and magnitude of silk as a medium in Chinese culture, while also representing a nostalgic longing for the past. Silk's connotations with the grandeur of Imperial China are here manipulated by Lin Tianmiao to bring the minds of her contemporaries to a period of wealth and nationalism in China's past. Lin's reversion to the more the traditional medium of silk similarly reflects the significance of her use of white cotton; as it serves as a reminder of the past, acting as a critique of the rapidly changing contemporary Chinese culture as a result of globalization and industrial development.
Reaction (2013) on display at Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Australia.
Silk also signifies a return to a simpler way of life through its connection to the natural. Guest notes that the medium of silk 'remains firmly bound to nature and to the lifecycle of the silkworm and the mulberry leaves upon which they feed.' (10) Though not completely obsolete, it may be argued that the natural presence within China's cityscape was diminishing, giving way to large scale apartment complexes, like the multiple high rise complexes in her native Beijing. The strong natural connection with silk is also interestingly used by Lin in relation to the subject matter of her later work. In her works Reaction (2013), Bonsai Tree (2012) and All the Same (2011), Lin Tianmiao uses silk to emphasize her message of mortality and criticism of material culture in China. Guest states that, 'there is a dark undercurrent beneath Lin Tianmiao's work, a realization of the frailty of the corporeal body.'(11)
Bonsai Tree (2012)
Reaction is comprised of plastic skulls wrapped in pink silk, which have been intercepted with everyday items such as shovels, trumpets and iron. Lin, when speaking of this works states that it is a critique of the way people in Beijing, as well as broader China, are bound to their work and their roles. However, Lin subverts these tools and changes them into something useless, playing on the idea of what is actually useful in society. Sun notes that the tension between the delicate, beautiful and colorful artworks and the macabre undertone could 'be interpreted as a critique of the increasingly materialistic and fiercely competitive nature of contemporary Chinese society which values extreme displays of opulence far more highly than individual human lives.'(12) Lin's perception that Chinese culture places more value in materiality than the individual is also expressed in Bonsai Tree. Bonsai Tree's political message is arguably more discernible than that of All The Same and Reaction, due to its depiction of 'living' human beings rather than just bones. The work comprises of a bonsai tree bound in beautiful blue silk thread which is suspended above a pile of miniscule human figures used in architectural models. Contrasting with the blue bonsai, these tiny figures are covered in gold leaf. Scattered beneath the tree, Smith notes that they are 'strewn around as if unimportant—thus evoking Lin's sense of 'the people' in a society where external pressures and self-imposed goals drive most to soul-diminishing "sameness", today determined less by political ideology than by commercialism.'(13) Similarly, All The Same, articulates issues concerning individuality (or lack there-of) and mortality in Chinese culture. All The Same is constructed of 180 fabricated human bones, which have been bound in coloured silk. The reduction of the human form to the bones alone eradicates all kinds of differences; gender, race, beliefs.
All the Same (2011) on display at Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Australia.
In contrast to Bound and Unbound, Lin's aforementioned artworks incorporating silk mummify elements of the human rather than objects, switching her focus from the material to individual. However, by binding artificial bones and small architectural figurines, arguably transform the human into object. Lin Tianmiao states that, 'this is a world in which the individual counts for little.' (14) Lin's artworks, All The Same, Reaction and Bonsai Tree, thus offer the individual as an art object. Arguably, these works provide the 'individual' present with some recognition, which may not otherwise be obtained in a 'society of extreme homogeneity'.(15) These works not only offer a critique of the treatment of the individual in China, but also present a symptomatic solution in the age of commercialism, by transforming the person into object.
Lin Tianmiao's practice offers an interpretation of a diminishing Chinese culture with Wu Hung noting that through her 'request for a "thread", she tries to "pull" lost memories back to present life then demonstrate that the previous life offers directions for the present life.' (16) Lin Tianmiao adapts the traditional materials of cotton and silk to express a modern commentary of Chinese culture. Through Lin Tianmiao's practice, there is an evident respect for the individual and humanity, as expressed in the aforementioned artworks. However, Lin's respect for her chosen materials is also palpable in her artworks. Guest comments upon the innovative techniques employed by female Chinese artists when working with textiles. She states that although 'Mao Zedong said that embroidery is not revolutionary. Interestingly, however, some female contemporary Chinese artists have chosen to work with thread and textiles... In experimental, maybe even revolutionary ways.' (17) Indeed, Lin Tianmiao's innovative use and display of cotton and silk express a unique perspective and interpretation of contemporary Chinese culture.
Lin Tianmiao beautifully articulates her own reactions to the changing Chinese culture through her unique artistic practice. Lin has previously states that she realized, that 'to be an artist you must first find your own character, form your own opinions, and way of living. Truly, being an artist is a state of mind as much as a way of life.' (18) Lin Tianmiao artworks allow for a visually striking yet poignant interpretation of contemporary Chinese culture, with the artist stating,'I am just showing my understanding of, or reaction to things.' (19) Through an adaptation of traditional imagery and textiles, Lin Tianmiao offers a nostalgic view of the past, while simultaneously providing her personal commentary of the contemporary.
Words by Elly Collins
1. Sam Gaskin, 'Lin Tianmiao Speaks to artnet News About the Art of Endurance', artnet (News), (2015), unpaginated.
2. Lin Tianmiao in Gaskin, 'Lin Tianmiao Speaks to artnet News About the Art of Endurance', unpaginated.
3. Lin Tianmiao in Luise Guest, '"No Feminism in China": An Interview with Lin Tianmiao', The Culture Trip, (2013), unpaginated.
4. Ibid.
5. Sun Yunfan, 'Interview: Lin Tianmiao on Art, Influence, and 'Bodily Reaction' as Inspiration', Asia Society, (2012), unpaginated.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Sarah Suzuki, 'Lin Tianmiao' in Cornelia H. Butler and Alexandra Schwartz, eds., Modern Women: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art, (New York: Museum of Modern Art: Distributed in the United States and Canada by D.A.P./ Distributed Art Publishers, 2010), 405.
9. Guest, '"No Feminism in China", unpaginated.
10. Ibid.
11. Luise Guest, 'Material Practices: Stitching, Fabric, and Textiles in the work of Contemporary Chinese Artists', DailyServing, (2014), unpaginated.
12. Sun, 'Interview: Lin Tianmiao on Art, Influence, and 'Bodily Reaction' as Inspiration', unpaginated.
13. Karen Smith, 'Woven Labours', Art in America, Brandt Publications , 100:9, (2012), 144.
14. Ibid.
15. Sun, 'Interview: Lin Tianmiao on Art, Influence, and 'Bodily Reaction' as Inspiration', unpaginated.
16. Sue Wang, 'Lin Tianmiao's Language of Thread and the Meaning', Cafa Art Info, (2012), unpaginated.
17. Guests 'Material Practices', unpaginated.
18. Lin Tianmiao in Karen Smith, 'Lin Tianmiao' in Non Zero, (Beijing: Timezone 8, 2004), 14.
19. Sun, 'Interview: Lin Tianmiao on Art, Influence, and 'Bodily Reaction' as Inspiration', unpaginated.