Family Tree
2001
When he lived in New York City from 1998 to 2006, the Chinese artist Zhang Huan staged many provocative performances. In one, documented in these nine photographs, his face was progressively inscribed with words from ancient Chinese divination, which predicts the future based on one’s facial features. The text gradually obscures Zhang’s features until the words are lost and his face is completely covered with black ink. Instead of revealing his fate, the words conceal his identity beneath a layer of culturally conditioned but illegible references. As its title suggests, the work “speaks about a family story, a spirit of family.” This sense of being Chinese became more of a focal point in Zhang’s work during his years in New York.
Nine chromogenic prints
50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm) each
Gift of Kim and Jon Shirley in honor of the reopening of the Seattle Asian Art Museum
2020.9
Provenance: The artist; {Chambers Fine Art, New York};
[Christie’s, New York, Post War and Contemporary Art, Nov. 9, 2005, sale no.
1575, lot no. 431, reproduced p. 48]; purchased at auction by Jon Shirley, Seattle,
Washington; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2020
