Li Xinmo

Li Xinmo was born into a patriarchal family and is a next generation Chinese artist who has "practiced body art to protest against political strain and women's rights in China" (Freeman, et al, 2017, p.17). Xinmo is well known for being against pollution, violence to women, politics, and patriarchy in her art demonstrations (Freeman, et al, 2017, p.28). Her work The Death of the Xinkai River (2008) is an image demonstration of the pollution and death of this beautiful river, to pay respect to the river, and a proclamation of Chinese women's issues (Li, 2008). The image symbolized the pollution and death of the river (or environment), and it was performed during Xinmo's early career. The Xinkai river is a "heavily polluted water system caused by the discarded waste of an industrial environment fuming with a putrid smell" (Freeman, et al, 2017, p. 30) Also, because of this pollution to the river, it has damaged lots of aquatic and planetary life around it. In the summer of 2008, the police found a murdered university female body in the river, who had been raped. Thus, Xinmo has created a performance to express her sadness and anger. In the images, Xinmo wore a simple white dress and walked into the river, and even submerged herself into the polluted water. In particular, the audience may find that when Xinmo submerged herself into the river, algae are enlaced in Xinmo's body. Those algae symbolize how painfully the death was for the murdered female, and for the murderer who abandoned the female's dead body to the polluted water, what is being told here? It may have illustrated that the murderer believes that the female is "dirty," the same as the river, or it is an insult and injustice for female's status in the society. The murderer abandoned the female into the polluted river, which means people are careless to the women; also, it is the same as people's carelessness for the environment.

Xinmo's performance also is a recreation of the dead female student, and it is an homage to "the female student of the Academy of Arts in Tianjin whose corpse was found in the river when Li was teaching there" (Jaguścik, 2018, p.87). The Death of the Xinkai River (2008) has not emphasized the women's status too obviously because if it underlines that, this gender difference may have more marginalization on women, and the more it would solidify the image and characteristics of women in gender. Because this society requires and shapes women in this way, so the women would use this norm to demand themselves, then restricts themselves by these social principles. In China, gender oppression is a real existence under culture and society. The word "feminism" harldy exists in China. People may not be discriminated against for being the gender of females, but they may be discriminated against in the identity of feminism. The opinions are bred-in-the-bone, and they have been "inherited" for a thousand years. Hence, people believe that women should only be virtuous women, virtuous wives, and virtuous mothers. These are named as traditional virtues (Wang, 2010). The world has always questioned women's ability, but never give the women a chance to try. For this reason, The Death of the Xinkai River (2008) is not only an art to invoke people to protect the environment; Xinmo is also using the identity of a woman to change the discrimination and prejudice of the world. At the same time, Xinmo also wants to demonstrate the woman's power is equal to the man's power.

Xinmo is activism feminism in a new generation. The Death of Xinkai River (2008) has demonstrated "that ecofeminism has continued feminism's longstanding interest in the female body as the nexus of biology with culture" (Jaguścik, 2018, p.99). It is a simple artwork that reflects the essential thing during daily life, and it also emphasizes the safety of the future generations. Besides, it is also a concern for those people who are at the bottom of society, such as Chinese peasants and navvies. Xinmo has used a female's voice to declare the essentiality of life and maintain that the women's rights are in progress.

Sources: 

Freeman, Kathryn, et al. Body and Performance Art: The Development of a Market, 2017, pp. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

Jaguścik, Justyna. "Feminist Responses to the Anthropocene: Voices from China." International Communication of Chinese Culture, vol. 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 83–100.

Li, Xinmo. The Death of the Xinkai River - Li Xinmo 李心沫. 2008, li-xinmo.com/works/performance/the-death-of-the-xinkai-river.html.

Wang, Bo. "Engaging Nüquanzhuyi: The Making of a Chinese Feminist Rhetoric." College English, vol. 72, no. 4, 2010, pp. 385–405.