This installation exhibition is a definite must see, a reason to make the trek out to 798 Danshanzi. I have take a few groups of collectors, art lovers and friends to this exhibition and most have been moved to tears.

Yan Pei-Ming is a famous Chinese artist who resides in France who is known for his breath-taking black and white portraits. Although born in Shanghai, he has lived in France since the early 1980s.

Due to his French citizenship, he has more room to openly talk about the problems in Chinese society. With this new solo exhibition titled “Landscape of Childhood” he attacks a very sensitive topic: orphaned disabled children.

Walking around big cities in China, I have noticed that you almost never encounter disabled individuals, either mental or physical (besides the beggars). These individuals have no place in modern Chinese society where the “One Child Policy” exists and the quest to chase the dollar in this “Dog eat Dog World” is the ultimate goal. A large amount of these children are carted off to orphanages where they will ultimately suffer.

The artist visited orphanages and painted the children on each of these flags. When you enter the exhibition the loud sound from the air blowing transports you to another world. The sound envelopes you, it is the voices of the multitudes of orphans who do not have a voice in society. You slowly walk around the portraits and watch as they violently flap in the wind. These innocent children are the by-products of a society in flux. You feel their hopelessness.

China will never be truly developed until it cares for all its people, the sick and the healthy.

For more info on the artist please visit this link Art Zine China