Missing unborn girls sculpted as terracotta troops
Print Edition
When French artist Prune Nourry decided to document China’s missing daughters — those never born due to male gender preference and abortion — she drew inspiration from one of China’s iconic symbols: the terracotta warriors.
She created the installation “Terracotta Daughters,” 108 life-sized sculptures of schoolgirls in the style of the ancient warriors.
Her exhibition was recently held at the Magda Danysz Gallery in northeast Shanghai’s Yangpu District.
“It is important to bring light to a subject that affects us all, especially in years to come,” Nourry says, adding that the work invites people to ponder the issue by reinterpreting a familiar symbol.
One Chinese woman wept at the sight of the army of lined up schoolgirls, saying it resonated with her own past and situation as a woman in China.
“Terracotta Daughters” is a continuation of Nourry’s previous series, “Holy Daughters,” an examination of the gender imbalance in India.
The 108 sculptures in Shanghai are modeled after eight Chinese orphans the artist met through the NGO called “The Children of Madaifu.”
Founded in 1999 by Marcel Roux, the charity in central China helps orphans and children left behind by migrant worker parents.
Chinese clay, techniques
The artist used Chinese clay and the same techniques used in making the terracotta warriors. She was assisted by craftsmen in Xi’an, where the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) sculptures are located. As with the terracotta warriors, each of Nourry’s sculptures is unique.
“The warriors are a national pride, but also a powerful symbol I chose as inspiration for my project,” she adds.
The artist says the number of single men has been increasing ever since the 1980s, and that “combined, China and India total more than one third of the globe’s population, and both encounter a similar gender imbalance.”
The male-to-female ratio at birth has hovered at a high level since fetal ultrasound exams became common in China in the 1980s, leading to more abortions of female fetuses.
“Technology and research have allowed us to make tremendous progress, but they can also be misused,” Nourry says. Ultrasound is intended to monitor fetal health, but it can reveal gender and lead to abortion.
Sex-selective abortion is illegal in China and the country has tried to alleviate the gender imbalance through law enforcement and public campaigns.
Figures for 2012 show that China registered a sex ratio at birth of 117.7 boys for every 100 girls, the fourth successive year of decline.
Government retirement programs are helping, since as parents needn’t worry about having a son to care for them when they get old.
“I try to contribute in my own way to help bring awareness,” the artist says. The exhibition will move on to Paris, New York and Miami.
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