Ren Hang in Peace (R.H.I.P)
From Galleri Image:
Ren Hang in Peace (R.H.I.P) is a research based play about the internationally renowned Chinese art photographer Ren Hang – his life and artistic practice, his struggles and too early death. Ren Hang comitted suicide in Februrary 2017. He was only 29 years old. Ren Hang is most well-known for his body positive depictions of the Chinese youth population. His works challenged Chinese censorship and caused a stir around the world. As he put it in an interview: ”I want to show that in China we are not robots – but people with genitals and a sexuality.”
Ren Hang in Peace (R.H.I.P) is a story about the relationship between the external societal reality and the inner private space; a single individual in the form of a Chinese LGBTQIA+ contemporary artist with severe depression in a the world’s largest country, where mental illness isn’t discussed publicly. The play’s manuscript can be characterised as a recycling mix, built on materials in Chinese consisting of a monologue, poems, photographs, blog posts written by Ren Hang and a collection of interviews and biographic films, in which Ren Hang appears. The material has not previously been presented in Denmark.
The performance was shown at Galleri Image in Aarhus from 22 to 28 April 2022, and at Fotografisk Center in Copenhagen from 28 March to 9 April 2022.
