Sculpture serves as a reminder of
China's one-child policy
Interim Staff
Jiang
Jie was born in Beijing, China in 1963. She was educated at the Arts
and Crafts School of Beijing and at the Central Academy of Fine Arts
in Beijing, where she is currently an associate professor in the Department
of Sculpture. The Toronto Sculpture Garden is on King Street, just east
of Church Street, and is operated by the City of Toronto's Department
of Parks and Recreation. Exhibits generally remain for several months.
"Babies are the starting point of my artwork," says Jiang-Jie. "Being
a Chinese woman of child-bearing age, this is not surprising. The Chinese
one-child policy, started in 1956, was an ambitious population-control
program that used propaganda, social pressure, and in some cases, coercion
to influence its citizens.
"The government rewarded those who observed the policy and penalized
those who did not. Couples with only one child were given a 'certificate'
entitling them to such benefits as cash bonuses, longer maternity leave,
better child care and preferential houses. In return, they would pledge
not to have more children. Naturally, babies themselves became a symbol
for this controversial program.
"My first work, exhibited in 1994, called 'Breakable Objects,' revealed
the fragile condition of infants ... pure, innocent, fragile, vulnerable
and unable to self-defend. The work at the Toronto Sculpture Garden
goes a little bit further by combining a baby's face and an adult's
smile. This critical juxtaposition implies something beyond a child's
experience and suggests a universality that transcends the limitations
of age. In Be, the baby's face expresses inquisitive hope and yearning
for the future and a palpable sense of puzzlement and fear.
"Babies have things they won't say and we adults couldn't understand,"
says Jiang-Jie.
