J’ai une famille

The exhibition J’ai une famille presents the work of contemporary artists of Chinese origin who settled in France between 1980 and 1990, at a time when China’s policy of reform and opening-up and the end of the Cold War were shaping a new world order.

While their works reflect the great diversity of their migration paths and their reactions to a changing world, these artists forged a network of friendships in France, sharing similar experiences and destinies in the face of isolation, adversity and sometimes racism. Their stories are singular, but the cultural and artistic convictions that drove them into exile, their shared paths, their intellectual affinities and the relationships they forged, evoke a family.

The exhibition traces the careers of these artists over more than thirty years, brought together by Hou Hanru and Evelyne Jouanno, with the following artists listed by date of arrival: Yan Pei-Ming, Ru Xiao Fan, Chen Zhen, Jiang Dahai, Huang Yong Ping, Yang Jiechang, Shen Yuan, Wang Du, Du Zhenjun and An Xiaotong.