J’ai une famille｜10 Artists from the Chinese Avant-Garde Settled in France"

Address : Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration

Palais de la Porte Dorée, 293 Av. Daumesnil, 75012 Paris

The exhibition “j’ai une famille" presents the works of contemporary artists of Chinese origin who settled in France during the 1980s and 1990s, at a time when China's reform and opening-up policy and the end of the Cold War were shaping a new world order. While their works reflect a great diversity in their migration experiences and their reactions to a changing world, these artists formed a network of supportive friendships in France, sharing similar experiences and destinies of isolation, adversity, and sometimes racism. Their stories are unique, but the cultural and artistic convictions that led them into exile, their common journeys, intellectual affinities, and the relationships they built evoke a sense of family.

The exhibition traces the trajectories of these artists over more than thirty years, brought together by Hou Hanru and Evelyne Jouanno, in order of their arrival: Yan Pei-Ming, Ru Xiao Fan, Chen Zhen, Jiang Dahai, Huang Yong Ping, Yang Jiechang, Shen Yuan, Wang Du, Du Zhenjun, and An Xiaotong.

Over three decades, these artists have developed a critical approach, invented innovative languages, and significantly contributed to the transformation of the contemporary French and international art scene.