Zhang “Valerie” Fang is an art historian and critic, based in Beijing, China. We have been presenting her writings on Chinese contemporary art, and this fourth installment directs out attention to the issue of Chinese family planning. In the article she includes her own experience as a mother of two (at the point of authorship, and now three children.)  Valerie illustrates a narrative of parental hopes and expectations from a very personal perspective.

Many emerging contemporary artists deal with their own psychology coming from one-child family homes, and question the implications on society. The Armory recently commissioned Xu Zhen for their 2014 expo, who is of this younger generation. A group that is said to speak a more “international” language, according to curator, Phil Tinari. Interestingly, there is also one French artist who addresses the particular impact of this policy, as a woman. Her name is Prune Noray, and she worked in collaboration with a Chinese craftsman, on Terracotta Daughters.

Please enjoy this fourth of Valerie’s ten, “China’s Long March: Ten essays on Chinese contemporary art,” with the English and Spanish translation side by side.

A snapshot of Valerie with her family in Chelsea, NYC, c. 2012