Watercolors lift a curtain on life struggles of migrant workers

Liu Xiangdong portrays decoration workers in his watercolor series Wall, which is shown at a solo exhibition in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Liu Xiangdong, 52, had been an interior and graphic designer for a dozen years in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, before he shifted to painting watercolors after 2004.

He thus spent a lot of time with interior decoration and renovation teams, which consisted of migrant workers from the rural area.

He observed how they worked, talked and socialized. And he was touched by their facial expressions that revealed a humble social rank and meanwhile, self-esteem and emotional changes.

Neighboring Hong Kong, Shenzhen became China's first special economic zone in 1980. And it has transformed into a metropolis inhabited by migrants of different walks of life and from across the country.

"In various inconspicuous corners of the city, migrants work at the bottom, struggling for a better living. How do they make peace with the state of being ignored? Their existence is a social phenomenon no one should overlook," Liu says.

Last year, he painted a series of watercolors on canvas, titled Wall, the centerpieces of his first exhibition now on at the Beijing Fine Art Academy's gallery.

In the paintings, workers are supported by ropes and a crude wooden board before a wall; and they whitewash it, cover it with paint, or smooth its surface－a common scene at new homes and buildings.

He painted the workers in gray, while in comparison, the walls are in vibrant colors that remind viewers of eye-catching neon lights on the street.

"The series feel like a collection of urban-life fables. Underlying his calm strokes, Liu embraces a pity for the underclass, their pains and impotence," comments Shang Hui, executive editor of Fine Arts magazine.

"They bring the audience fresh visual experiences, unlike the subjects of fashionable urban landscape and well-off men and women, which people have seen too much."

Liu says as migrants keep flooding into developed cities, they have stimulated his desire to paint. He now divides time between Shenzhen, where he teaches design at a professional school, and Beijing, where he can focus on watercolor in his studio.