A Pig’s River: what is in your water?
What do crushed coke cans and clay pigs have in common? A place in Gu Xiong’s exhibition titled Gu Xiong: A Journey Exposed, a series of installations at the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art. The exhibition features pieces that speak to a variety of social and political issues.
One of the moving pieces at the exhibit is A Pig’s River. There are 10,000 small clay pigs lining the floor, forming a winding river towards a display of plastic water containers. This installation is a reference to an incident last year where over 10,000 dead pigs were thrown into the Huangpu River in China. Xiong says the Chinese are known for dumping things in the water, thus creating extensive air and food pollution. This piece was meant to remind people about how we can protect the environment and raises questions about the safety of our food, water and air supply.
Giving workshops to students in schools is another way for Xiong to spread his messages. The clay pigs were produced with the help of thousands of students and community volunteers.
“I showed them [the students] images of the dead pigs and talked about how, as an individual, we can change the situation,” says Xiong, a Chinese native.
His work centres on struggles with personal identity, identity development and the need for individual expression: themes that are very close to Xiong’s heart. Messages about food production, globalization and environmental issues are also conveyed through his pieces.
Art born from challenges
Xiong believes new things are reborn after physical or emotional challenges. He revealed one of the most challenging events in his life was being sent to the countryside as a labourer during the Cultural Revolution.
“There was no hope,” says Xiong.
He started to do sketches, as a way to cope, and compiled 25 sketchbooks during his time as a labourer.
“Art helped me survive and it helped me try to find what’s meaningful in life and understand the people around me,” says Xiong, who later became an art teacher in China.
From busboy to professor
In 1989, Xiong immigrated to Canada and worked as a busboy at UBC.
“I was placed at the bottom of society. Art helped me rebuild my identity and be recognized in mainstream culture,” says Xiong.
During his time as a busboy, Xiong internalized the process of picking up garbage and throwing it away: he thought of it as a way to clean himself up. A tribute to his artist struggle, one of his other noteworthy installations is made of crushed coke cans lining the wall and floor at the gallery.
Xiong explained that as a new immigrant, he was in a situation where he was caught between two cultures. After seeing a student crush a coke can, he realized that no two crushed cans could be exactly the same. This observation encouraged him to build up his new identity again. As a result of this incident, the coke can installation was born.
Fast forward 25 years later, Xiong is now a Visual Arts professor at UBC, and he has come a long way from his days as a busboy. He loves to teach and see the fresh ideas of his students.
“I think teaching and being an artist work together as one,” Xiong says.
After receiving feedback on his own work, he uses it to guide students on their own artistic journey. Speaking from experience, Xiong says making art is a way to help students find their own ideas and find themselves.
“It’s a good feeling,” he says, as he describes his teaching process. “Art is meaningful. If there is no meaning, there is no way to make beautiful pictures,” says Xiong.
The Gordon Smith Gallery for Canadian Art will be hosting Xiong’s exhibit from now until Aug. 23. Admission is by donation. For more information, please visit www3.gordonsmithgallery.ca/Gallery/OurExhibitions/MainGallery/Pages/default.aspx.
