feng yingru

Yingru is a multimedia artist, working with painting, moving images and installation. The core concept of her research is ‘disappearance’, the ‘disappearance and return of culture, life, groups, emotions, ideas and anything - often grounded in her own personal experiences.

DISAPPEARED WOMEN

“In my hometown, the countryside of northern Shaanxi, earth burial remains the most popular form of burial.

The name of the deceased and his son and grandson are usually recorded as the main body of the sacrifice, while women were excluded for a long time, a custom that is still common today.

In addition, it is accepted that couples should be buried together. For those who have had multiple marriages, only the first wife could be recorded, while those who aren't the first wife couldn't be recorded, and no one was buried together, their bones could be traded

Due to poor education, words and symbols are missing here. Most of the time only male family members can be recorded. Posterity wants to commemorate their ancestors, but could not find written names, and had to carve words with similar syllables on the tablets. The vast majority of women were wrongly recorded in this way, and some disappeared forever.

I made tombstones out of ice to commemorate the women lost in time and to document their ‘disappearance’ again.”