Just opened at London’s V&A Museum in South Kensington, the exhibit Dimensions marks the UK’s first major display of Chinese contemporary studio craft.
Featuring 80 objects by modern makers, the show brings together textiles, sculpture and ceramics alongside the museum’s historic collection, offering a fresh perspective on tradition and innovation.
Curator Li Xiaoxin spent five years traveling across the Chinese mainland to build the collection. She explains:
"I want people to come into the museum, not just thinking of China as a culture that is only in the distant past and that China's objects were only brilliant in the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods. I want them to see the latest developments, the very creative works that have kept coming out of China in the last decades or so."
A standout piece is the textile sculpture She's Bestowed Love by LOEWE Collection Craft Prize winner Fanglu Lin. Drawing on tie-dye techniques learned while living with the Bai ethnic minority in Yunnan province, Lin explores themes of sacrifice and family. As she told CGTN Europe:
"This one is about love, like women's warmest love and blood. My memory is my family. My mom, my grandma, they gave me a lot of love for me."
Since the 1980s, artists from the Chinese mainland have reimagined craft as a medium for self-expression, and ceramics remain a key part of that ongoing story.
Reference(s):
London museum opens UK's first major Chinese contemporary craft show
cgtn.com
