At Beijing’s Nanchizi Museum, young artist Chen Fenwan is captivating audiences with her paper-cutting installation “A Wall.” Part of the “Dian Xi Yi Ben – Shadow Puppetry and Contemporary Art Exhibition,” Chen’s work tells the forgotten stories of Taipingxu, a once-thriving village in Guangdong Province of the Chinese mainland that now stands nearly abandoned.
“Architecture carries the history and memory of regional culture,” Chen explains. In “A Wall,” she explores the traces left on the old buildings of Taipingxu, likening them to carvings made by time. These marks, she says, resemble cuts from specific historical moments.
To create her installation, Chen spent time in Taipingxu, observing and collecting the peeling marks from the buildings’ exterior walls. She connected these patterns to the nicknames of former residents, naming and numbering each trace. Using traditional paper-cutting techniques, she meticulously copied over 600 of these wall coverings.
The assembled pieces come together to reconstruct the lives and stories of Taipingxu’s past inhabitants. Through her art, Chen breathes new life into the village, inviting viewers to reflect on history, memory, and the passage of time.
