18 Songs of a Nomad Flute – The Story of Wen Chi

Collages in response to the thirteenth century poems of Liu Shang are the basis for a series of small (45 cm square) and large (76cm x 127 cm) acrylic paintings on canvas. The transformation in scale and proportion from collage to the different sized paintings necessitates changes in composition that also initiate changes in the content of the paintings whilst retaining the integrity of the initial response to the individual poems. From the elements which constitute the collages, Derivations are made in sets of 18, referring to their origins in the poems.

Wen Chi was abducted in the third century AD by Mongolian soldiers and became wife to their general. For twelve years she lived the harsh life of her nomadic captors, always longing to return to China. At the end of this period, envoys from China negotiated a ransom with Wen Chi and her husband. She chose to return to China leaving behind the “enemy” husband who she had learned to “love and trust” and the children she had born, none of whom she would see ever again. The story demonstrates the importance of Homeland China and its civilisation, even to the exclusion of marriage and motherhood.