Documentary · History

The Coloured Sky: New Women II

5 channel video installation, HD colour with sound, 12'00-15'48". Music by Wang Wenwei. With a haunting lyricism and dreamlike narrative, The Coloured Sky: New Women II examines the secret desires and anxieties of young women as they come of age. The work captures a journey that has on one hand ended and on the other has barely begun. The ingenues, teetering on the brink of womanhood, frolic self-consciously in an artificially staged beach scene, aware of their burgeoning sexuality and its underlying power. The shadow of China's historic system of concubinage hangs over these contemporary scenes, as the idealized beauties negotiate a new social milieu in which future prospects hinge on appearance and the cultivation of male fantasy.