"Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom: Bird Cage"
by Mei Xian Qiu

is part of a series of photographs portraying a Chinese takeover of the United States, is a popular partial Western misquotation of Mao Zedong's "Let a Hundred Flowers Blossom, Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend." Taken from classical Chinese poetry, Mao used this slogan to proclaim a great society where arts, academia, and "a hundred schools of thought contend." As a result, artists and academics came out of hiding and there was a brief flowering of culture.

In the photograph, hidden political dangers are suggested and must be addressed urgently, but are put aside momentarily, subsumed to the romance of "the beautiful idea."

The piece uses familiar symbolism and historical dystopianism, but looks squarely to the future. Never forgetful of the past, this body of work engages the constitution of the future, affirmatively critical, specifically with respect to globalism, the identity of the self and self view, the social landscape, post-colonialism, and that of the larger national body politic.

Details

• Size: 12" X 16"
• Medium: UV Photograph on Plexiglass
• Shipping: Artwork will be shipped by the artist directly to the purchaser. Purchaser will cover the shipping cost and insurance

Artist Bio

Mei Xian Qiu is a Los Angeles based artist. She was born in the town of Pekalongan, on the island of Java, Indonesia, to a third generation Chinese minority family. At birth, she was given various names in preparation for societal collapse and variant potential futures, a Chinese name, an American name and an Indonesian name given by her parents, as well as a Catholic name by the local priest. In the aftermath of the Chinese and Communist genocide, the family immigrated to the United States. She was moved back and forth several times between the two countries during her childhood - her parents initial reaction to what they perceived as the amorality of life in the West countered with the uncertainty of life in Java. Partially as a result of a growing sense of restlessness, her father joined the U.S. Air force and the family lived across the country, sometimes staying in one place for just a month at a time. She has also been based in Europe, China, and Indonesia as an adult.