East Village, Beijing, No. 18
After the performance "12 Square Metres" by Zhang Huan

Although Rong Rong shot 12 Square Metres – Zhang Huan’s iconic body-art performance piece – inside a filthy latrine, he transformed the squalor into a dreamscape, lending transcendence to the subject’s self-sacrifice. Smeared in honey and fish oil, the fly-covered Zhang sat on a stool for an hour, blending into the surrounding waste, reconciling with it, all while maintaining his composure to recall how his people survive in the unsanitary facilities existing alongside glamorous new buildings. Self-expression and social critique merge in using the body as the site of representation and eliciting the ultimate relief that endurance can bring.