《Xian Guan》 WANG Juyan

《Xian Guan》 WANG Juyan

STATEMENT

From the world famous Dunhuang to Suoyang, from Kizil to Bezeklik, Xian Guan was a journey made between four Buddhist cave painting sites on the ancient Chinese Silk Road. It is through the wildness of the North West that the sublime register of history can be felt. Art is, in a way, the presentation of history as a material to the present. Within these immense natural sceneries, I observed the geo-political uncertainties caused by racial, historical and economic pressures. From the Buddhist site in Dunhuang (demolished during the Culture Revolution) to the current conflict areas near Kizil, history confronts the contemporary in Xian Guan.

*Xian Guan (the abbreviation of Abhisamaya-alaṅkāra in Chinese) is one of five Sanskrit-language Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures. Xian Guan also means in contemporary Chinese “now, observe”.