Tattoo 1

Qiu Zhijie's Tattoo series, begun in 1994, explores the relationship between the individual and society, the hidden and the visible, and the language of symbols and codes. In Tattoo I, Qiu Zhijie stands expressionless against a plain wall. His body and the wall behind him are covered with the brightly painted character "bu" (meaning "no"), suggesting a protest or negation in which his body has somehow merged with its surroundings. Qiu Zhijie says of the series, "The substance of the subject, the weight of the person, and the physicality of the figure all dissolve. The subject is powerless to act because he is nothing more than an image. The only thing remaining is a flat surface onto which anyone can scrawl. This series is a response to the futility and drowning of the individual brought about by the onslaught of the Chinese media culture, which began to develop during the 1990s."