Dahlias
Dong Wensheng
董文胜
Production date
2014
Object Detail
Media
hand-coloured gelatin silver print
Measurements
88 x 68 cm
Notes
The hand-coloured silver gelatin prints Dahlias and Mayflowers (2014) play with the visual trope of concealment: Dong Wensheng’s models wear traditional wooden flower pots over their heads, as if the blooms are bursting forth from their bodies. As a metaphor for the regeneration of Chinese tradition in the face of the culturally homogenising forces of the wider world, these images are both comical and powerfully evocative; they remind us of the masks worn by performers in Chinese opera.
Accession number
2014.127