I never thought about Chinese Bonsai as a tree torture and I was very surprised to see a series of bonsai by Chinese artist Shen Shaomin presented at Frey Norris Gallery. Shen shows them trussed and tugged by the thumbscrew brackets, collars and barricades that engineer their growth.
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Shen connects his bonsai sculptures with the Chinese tradition of forcing women to bind their feet from an early age to disfigure them into conformity with a certain ideal of female beauty. But the disquiet that this show provokes has a more immediate source.
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It arises from the bad faith of us who have watched silently while the U.S. government sanctioned torture as a tactic in its project of reshaping societies half a world away.
Here is Frey Norris Gallery site http://www.freynorris.com/
I was a little shock when I saw these images. A lot of people think that bonsai technique is cruel. Do you think Chinese Bonsai is about tree torture?
Susan Brian