ANRAN XU

Anran Xu, a contemporary jewellery artist from China, graduated from the China Academy of Art with a Bachelor's degree in Jewellery Design and is currently studying for an MA in Jewellery and Metal at the RCA. Her work has been exhibited at the 2019 Beijing International Jewellery Art Exhibition and the 2020 EASD International Jewellery Exhibition, Valencia, Spain. In the future, Xu intends to establish a jewellery design brand in China with her partner, with the ambition of combining contemporary art with fashion jewellery, incorporating contemporary art practice and a critical approach to modern Chinese society and culture into everyday fashion accessories.

As a jewellery artist, Xu specialises in metal, enamel work and various traditional jewellery techniques and materials, and combines a wide range of contemporary materials with traditional ones. She focuses on the study of traditional Chinese culture and contemporary Chinese social phenomena, with a focus on education, women and marriage. She likes to use narrative jewellery to express her personal critical thinking on various human issues and phenomena in modern Chinese society.

This project is about marriage under parental control in China. In both ancient and modern China, Chinese parents always control their children’s marriages. The major decisions about their children’s marriages are always made by parents: children have to follow their parents’ will, especially in relation to all major decisions, such as marriage, in their lives. If young people do not obey their parents in these decisions they will be criticised by their families and wider society because this is seen as unfilial and unethical behaviour in Chinese culture.

WHY? The famous philosopher Mencius said that the most basic unit is a family in China. You are not a person but a family member in China. Everyone needs to take responsibility for the family’s honour. As the older generation, parents believe they ought to lead the younger members in having successful lives that benefit the whole family. What’s more, the basic unit of a Chinese family is the married couple. The combining of two family names, setting up a family, the continuation of lineage, the extension of blood relationships, all of these start from marriage. So parents can’t let children decide for themselves about these things.

Anran says: ‘Finally, I hope I can deal with my relationship with my parents better after this. Maybe the controlling love I’m aware of makes me unable to breathe, but this love will be an important pillar in some people's lives. I just want parents to know and respect the unique happiness that their children hope for.’

The Cage Collection

The Empty Cage

The Marriage Rings

The Cage Ring

Trying to escape

Breakthrough-1

Breakthrough-2

Running hard

Left but returned

Fly-1

Fly-2

Net

Working Hard

Breaking

Being Melted

Destroy the Cage

Wring

Fight

For her project, Anran hopes to convey this sadness to the audience, to resonate with children, and to encourage parents who were once children to think about whether they have expressed their love to their children appropriately.

In her cage rings collection, she uses metal knitting to make a small cage that traps the wedding ring.She believes that two people in a marriage do not necessarily feel the same way about the marriage: some enjoy it, some try to escape it; some succeed, some fail; some leave but return; some melt the cage, but some are melted themselves.

This information gap can make the number of people in the cage uncertain.

Medium:

Sliver

The Noodle Cage

Knot

Lock

Binding

Snake

Crossing

Twining

The Cage Collection

For the cage rings collection-2, she also uses noodles in the cage because parents are the ones who feed and cook food for their children. And noodles are a nutritional staple, almost like ropes.

Medium:

Sliver, Noodle

Contemporary Educational Fine Jewellery Love Relationship

The Dog Chain

The Dog Chain between Parents and Child

Family-Oil Painting – The jade dog chain between parents and child.

In Anran’s Dog Chain, she uses jade: it has an association with beauty and value in China. Parents will wear jade jewellery and pass it on to their children, with high expectations for their children's lives and to bless them with health and peace. This is the love of parents, but this love can also turn into chains.

Anran thinks there is a kind of ‘dog chain’ between parents and children in China: the control is similar – the master wants the dog to go, but it doesn’t. The master wants it to stop, but it just runs. The master pampers the dog, but the master also binds the dog to him.So she uses jade to create a real, usable dog chain, that symbolises both beauty and costliness. It signifies great love, but also heavy control.

Medium:

Jade, Sliver

Size:

15 x 125 cm

Contemporary Educational Fine Jewellery Love Relationship

ANRAN XU

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Royal College of Art