Artist: Lyra Lintern
Curator: Zhihui Zhang
女 (nǚ) : "woman" or "female."
女的 (nǚ de) : “a woman”, sometimes used in a dismissive way; however, its intrinsic origin refers to qualities, experiences and roles that belong to women.
Today, one in five women on the planet is Chinese. Over the past 40 years, Chinese women have experienced profound and extreme transformations unseen elsewhere.
Navigating a complex landscape of tradition and modernity, those living in cities are increasingly well-educated and career-oriented, with many excelling in fields such as business, technology, and the arts. Despite facing societal pressures related to marriage and family life, they are redefining gender roles and pursuing personal and professional ambitions with determination. Chinese women are incredibly resilient and forward-thinking. Yet, we know so little about them. Aiming to go beyond stereotypes and mainstream perspectives, this exhibition offers an insight into individual and collective stories that belong to Chinese women.
For over a year, Lyra met with Chinese women living in the capital, listening to their stories, experiences, and wishes.
With ten carefully selected portraits, her objective is to share with a wider audience images and first hand narratives of contemporary Chinese women in order to reflect on the richness of their experiences and celebrate their faces and souls.
Working Method
Lyra moved to China in late 2020. She was immediately struck and fascinated by the personalities of the Chinese women in her surroundings, which diverged notably from Western portrayals. She decided to document these encounters in a project focused on Chinese women's narratives.
Her work makes no scientific claims. Consciously avoiding the challenges associated with sampling, she preferred an organic approach, interviewing women she encountered along her journey. At the end of each interview, she asked the interviewee to suggest another woman, allowing connections to naturally unfold throughout her project.
Artist Bio
Trained as an anthropologist, Lyra has always been fascinated by the transmission of people ‘s stories and collective memory within families and culture. During her studies, she turned to photography, which allowed her to connect her interest in human sciences with her passion for visual arts. Touched by notions of representation and authenticity, she specialises in a 'humanistic' approach, photographing people she meets in their usual environments. Particularly focused on subjects related to maternity and women's place in family and society, she is dedicated to portraying their reality, capturing their nuances and beauty.
In 2016, she co-founded Naissentiel, an association based in Brussels (Belgium) that provides prenatal and post-natal care and support to local and European families.
Based in Beijing for the past 4 years, she approaches photographing and documenting Chinese women with great ethics and sensitivity, curious to explore the diversity and universality of their experiences. 女的 nǚ de Portraits of Contemporary Chinese Women is her first exhibition on her work with Chinese Women.
Curator Bio
Zhihui Zhang is a PhD student in Art History at the University of Toronto and a writer and curator. She graduated from Wellesley College, with a major in Art History and a minor in Studio Art in 2015. During her master’s studies in Regional Studies-East Asia at Harvard University, she studied East Asian modern and contemporary art and visual culture. Her master’s thesis offered a new reading of the New Measurement Group in relation to the history of cybernetics in China. Her current research focuses on artistic production about and by peasants in socialist China.
Before her PhD career, she co-curated the exhibition “Whatever Works, Whatever It Takes” with artist Feng Junyuan at Goethe Institut China in 2019 and the exhibition “An Impulse to Turn” at Inside-Out Art Museum in 2020. Her writings have appeared on publications such as ARTFORUM CHINA and LEAP.
Having studied at a women’s college, she is profoundly shaped by her experiences there and believes in the great potential of women in contemporary society. Meeting the artist Lyra in 2023, she received an honorable mention by « The Independent Photo » for her photographic work featuring women in Gansu.
Through a Wellesley alumna this summer refocused her thinking to the meaning of being a woman in contemporary China. She is deeply touched by the stories that belong to the women interviewed and feels honored to be able to help with showing their stories to the public.