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M+, Hong Kong, © David Diao
David Diao 刁德謙
Da Hen Li cycle—Da Hen Li 大亨里：大亨里
2007
David Diao’s Da Hen Li is part of a cycle of works of the same name. Created between 2007 and 2008, the series unearths Diao’s memories of the Da Hen Li house, his childhood home in Chengdu, China. Diao lived at Da Hen Li until the age of six, when he emigrated to Hong Kong, shortly before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Thirty years later, upon returning to his home town for the first time, Diao discovered that his former family residence had recently been razed to the ground, leaving almost no record of its existence. Comprising paintings of various sizes and media, including hand-drawn and ruled floor plans, silk-screened property deeds, laser-printed sketches, and texts in English and Chinese, the cycle is the artist’s attempt to trace his childhood through a personal recollection of Da Hen Li’s spaces.
Da Hen Li is a long rectangular acrylic and vinyl painting on canvas, reminiscent of old address plaques in China. On a bright teal background, the Chinese characters for ‘Da Hen Li’ are prominently written in black. Towards the left edge of the painting, the words ‘41 hao’ (number 41), written in ochre, suggest the street address of the Da Hen Li house. The work can be seen as paired with Masthead, which refers to the house’s identity after being commandeered by the government.
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