疙瘩
长在皮肤上的疙瘩
逐渐凸起一个小包
在夏天
蚊虫叮咬的疙瘩
总是抓心的
痒
疙瘩
长在人心上的疙瘩
默默打成一个结
在角落
总是隐隐的刺
痛
在阅读郑雪的作品时，我的脑袋里突然蹦出了这个分行，她的作品具有一种坑坑洼洼的颗粒质感，让人忍不住想动手去触碰作品上那些凸起的部分，它们特别像人的皮肤上被蚊虫叮咬后凸起的疙瘩。
当你仔细观看她的作品时，你还会看到丰富的材料，线头、石膏、立德粉、凝固的乳胶、硅胶、苍耳、坯布、皂刺、铁丝网、碗罩、木材等等，这些充满泥土气息和手工作坊味道的材料，都被她用针线、棉线或麻绳缝补到了一起。缝补对于她来说，是在做作品的过程中一个必须的动作，它具有穿与刺的手感。
在她看来，在中国的传统家庭空间中，女性总是在用不可量化的劳作，默默的缝补着家庭关系中的冲突与裂痕。在这个过程中女性通过劳作，也在试图修补她们莫可名状的情绪和痛感。所以我们时常会看到一个传统结构的家庭中，妈妈总是不停的在做家务，她们总是不能自拔的在家里来回倒腾。
郑雪通过用针线来缝补作品，试图模仿对妈妈劳作的记忆，从中她想要揭示的也正是遮蔽在女性日常劳作背后的脆弱与刺痛。但在另一方面劳作也天然的带着一种美感，这也使得她的作品在品相上变得素雅和和谐，而这些所有想指涉的痛感也因此被素净的坯布“拧巴”成了的一颗一颗的疙瘩，它们呈现出一种久经劳作的皮肤质感，散发着米黄色或米白色的呼吸，这似乎也成为了传统家庭关系中女性的一种写照。
Bumps
Bumps on the skin
Gradually swell into small lumps
In summer
Bumps from mosquito bites
Always itch
Terribly
Bumps
Bumps in the heart
Silently knotting up
In a corner
Always faintly sting
With pain
While reading Zheng Xue’s works, this verse suddenly sprang to my mind. Her works have a bumpy, granular texture that makes you want to reach out and touch the protruding parts, much like the bumps that rise on your skin after a mosquito bite.
When you closely observe her works, you’ll see an abundance of materials: threads, plaster, lithopone, solidified latex, silicone, cockleburs, canvas, soap thorns, wire mesh, bowl covers, wood, and so on. These materials, earthy and redolent of a workshop, are sewn together with needles, cotton threads, or hemp ropes. For her, sewing is an essential act in the creation process, providing a tactile sense of piercing and threading.
In her view, in traditional Chinese family spaces, women are always engaged in immeasurable labor, silently mending the conflicts and fractures within family relationships. Through this labor, women also attempt to mend their indescribable emotions and pain. Thus, in traditional family structures, we often see mothers perpetually doing housework, tirelessly moving back and forth in the house.
By sewing her works, Zheng Xue attempts to mimic the memory of her mother’s labor, aiming to reveal the fragility and pain concealed behind women’s daily toil. On the other hand, labor inherently carries a sense of beauty, making her works appear simple and harmonious. The pain she intends to signify is thus twisted into bumps by the plain canvas, presenting a skin-like texture from prolonged labor, exuding a breath of beige or off-white. This seems to symbolize the portrayal of women in traditional family relationships.
inner flow Gallery will launch a solo exhibition titled “Monsters of protein”by artist Jiang Xiaoyu on July 26, 2024. Curated by Bao Dong, the exhibition will showcase 19 significant works created by Jiang in recent years in the main gallery. Concurrently, the gallery’s first-floor space will present the exhibition “Jiang Peng”，featuring a series of his early sketches and poems, connecting the past “Jiang Peng”with the present “Jiang Xiaoyu”. Additionally, Jiang will organize the latest inner flow Project, introducing Zheng Xue‘s solo project “Knot in stitches”.
郑雪
郑雪，1996年出生于重庆南川，毕业于四川美术学院油画系获硕士学位，现工作生活于重庆。近期研究主要从女性劳作的角度来探讨女性身体与家庭空间的关系，通过探索家务劳动中的常用物质和劳作方式的特质来展开女性在日常家庭生活中不可见和难以言表的具身化沉抑及其复杂性。
Zheng Xue
Born in 1996 in Nanchuan, Chongqing, Zheng Xue graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute with a master’s degree. She currently lives and works in Chongqing. Her recent research focuses on exploring the relationship between women’s bodies and family spaces from the perspective of female labor. By examining the characteristics of commonly used materials and labor methods in household chores, she delves into the unseen and inexpressible embodied oppression and complexities experienced by women in everyday family life.
