Theme
All of the young girls in Zhang Peng's artworks are delicate and helpless. Their big, sad eyes are filled with tears and seem to appeal to the audience. “Their indescribable expressions of hurt and vulnerability leave the viewer unsettled, disconcerted and heavy hearted.” His intentions are to create a visual contradiction that represents the current problems in China due to the ever-growing modernization. One of those problems is the gross overpopulation of the country. Because of the one-child policy, families are being selective about the gender of their babies. Boys have traditionally been more desired. In order to ensure the birth of boy, families resort to a number of different methods, including having early-term abortions with the discovery of a girl fetus. Because of this, China now has the greatest difference in sex ratio, with males outnumbering females by 35 million (Timeinmoments.com, 1). Zhang Peng’s image of girl dolls symbolizes the discrimination against young girls in China and the injustices they endure.
Read more about this topic: Zhang Peng (artist)
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