2019/10/02 by Nicola Foster (The University of Southampt · 3 citations
Social Sciences · #Asian Culture and Media Studies #Chinese history and philosophy #Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics #Dance #China #Art #Guardian #Visual arts #Ballad #Order (exchange) #Painting #Art history #History #Literature #Poetry
paper · open access · doi:10.1080/17561310.2019.1690294
published in Art In Translation 11(4), 393-416 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2019/10/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
There is evidence of women artists producing art works throughout history, but often their work was attributed to their male guardian. However, in a remote rural area of south China women developed their own script, nüshu (literally women’s writing) in which they wrote songs, ballads, laments, autobiographies, and correspondence with other women. Nüshu works were produced by women and for women and as such were left unacknowledged. This article argues that in order to acknowledge nüshu as an art practice it needs to be “translated,” referenced, and acknowledged by other artists. The paper explores the way in which two Hong Kong artists—working in drawing and dance respectively—translate, commemorate, and construct an artistic heritage and a genealogy of women artists in China through references to nüshu works.