The figure of a young woman, standing without any deliberate posture or stance, as though held by the pins used to brace models when they stood for photographs to be taken in Daguerrotype, near entire neutrality is assumed. Her features and dress are near vapid, she does not express much or display much, her arms fall naturally to the side of her mute posture. Yet, her arms are covered with a strange gauze or fabric which amounts to padding of some kind. We question her occupation, her societal role. The unsuspended sleeves which conceal her forearms are commonplace throughout the visual landscape of Shanghai: garbage collectors, bakers, fisherman and women, grocers, shopkeepers, various merchants working with textiles or timber all use similar, if not, exact sleeves to protect themselves from the dust and soil of labour. Occasionally, these are worn simply to protect from the humid cold which penetrates the metropolis in winter. Why has the artist chosen to depict this simple young woman wearing these sleeves alone as a recognizable element in her dress. Do they not point towards anonymity? The exquisite lacquer and composition are both traditional, she seems a paragon of the virtues of youth and women...
Wherein are we rendered anonymous, faceless, voiceless in the sprawling streets of Shanghai? Where do we identify origin and where assume the obscure mask lent to us by occupation? Visual disinterest is enacted upon to offer a portrait of one most commonly seen and yet never remembered; a sole face amidst a sea of the nameless. [Rajath Suri]