The angels of Liu Jin’s ‘The Theater of Reality’ have fallen far from their heavenly perch. In this photograph, Liu Jin has positioned a group of five nude and bleeding angels within the ruins of a building. The purity of the angels’ white feathers and nudity stands in sharp contrast to the demolished rubble all around them, as if the destruction has tarnished not only the city’s landscape but also the soul of the... More

The angels of Liu Jin’s ‘The Theater of Reality’ have fallen far from their heavenly perch. In this photograph, Liu Jin has positioned a group of five nude and bleeding angels within the ruins of a building. The purity of the angels’ white feathers and nudity stands in sharp contrast to the demolished rubble all around them, as if the destruction has tarnished not only the city’s landscape but also the soul of the Chinese people. These piles of rubble are buildings with many years of history, pushed aside to make way for shiny new structures. These forlorn figures are the new ‘reality’ for Chinese citizens. Short