Faith and Life of Mosuo People, China - The Last Matriarchal Society – Part I

Siyue Pan

From 15-10-2016 Until 20-11-2016

15 October – 20 November 2016

PV Saturday 15th October 4-6 pm

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Marian Cramer Projects is delighted to present Faith and Life of Mosuo People, ChinaThe Last Matriarchal Society – Part I, a series of new works and video by Siyue Pan. This is the artist’s third solo exhibition at the gallery, for which she has travelled to Lugu Lake on the border between Ninglang County in Yunnan Province and Yanyuan County in Sichuan Province and spent time with the Mosuo people, the last matriarchal society.

The lake is in the shape of a horse’s hoof – long from north to south, and narrower from east to west. The vista of the lake changes constantly throughout the day. The morning mist mixed with the light of the rising sun gives the lake an orange glow covered by mist. When the light of the sun causes the hills to throw their shadows onto the water, the lake is emerald. The lake is calm and dark green in the evening when the sun sinks, and is peaceful when night comes. Gentle wind blows and water ripples.

Mystery and charm surround the lake, partly because it was once an unspoiled place and still retains much of its totally natural beauty, but mostly because it is the home of the Mosuo people.  Here, there is no marriage. Men stay in the women’s home as mates called ’Axia’. Children are brought up by women, and use the surname of their mothers. Families are composed of the members of the matrilineal kin. Women operate production and management, and hold the principal position in the society, forming a modern day ’woman’s kingdom’, which adds mystique to this place.

Pan made double image photographs, real and virtual, Yang and Ying. For her it’s a symbolic metaphor, the real part is the world and life the people live, the virtual aspect is the people’s souls.

Siyue Pan (born in Liuzhou, Guangxi, China in 1973) was educated at Guangxi University and through private local photography and painting teachers. Recent exhibitions include a Liuzhou art exhibition in support of Autism, City Center, Liuzhou China, and a group exhibition in Liuzhou Art Museum in April this year.

Siyue Pan lives and works in China.

 

 

 

 

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