Yin Xiuzhen

Weapon 2003-7 consists of a series of sculptures suspended from the ceiling. Hanging lengthways, they resemble missiles. The addition of small fruit knives emphasises an element of threat.

The shape of the objects was inspired by the Beijing Central Radio and Television Tower. Dominating the city’s skyline, the tower shows the importance of China’s broadcast media. For Yin, it represents the nation’s ‘soft power’. This is the exertion of control through economic and cultural means rather than the ‘hard power’ of military force.

The missiles are made using fabric from second-hand clothing.The worn textiles are stretched over a frame of extendable curtain rods and metal hoops. This use of domestic materials to make threatening objects subverts the idea that the home is a place of safety or refuge.

Yin’s interest in textiles began during her childhood when her mother worked in a garment factory. By repurposing old fabrics,she shows that these are not disposable commodities but materials that carry traces of their history and the lives of their former owners.

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