Introduction to the catalogue:
Skin of Asia
Icheon Worlds Ceramic Biennale
Korea 2007
Text by Curator
Jaeyoung Kang
The Terracotta Woman Project by Marian Heyerdahl is reinterpretation of the famous terracotta warriors in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, one of the most important collections of cultural heritage of China.
The artist changed the faces of the terracotta warriors into female warriors to create a massive army of women of the 21st century.
Like the thousand of warriors of the Qin emperor, each of these female warriors
in Marian Heyerdahl´s work has a different face and posture,
included in this army of female warriors are the pregnant, children, and
those who are bleeding.
They all express their feelings freely.
Some look as brave as male warriors, others look afraid or determined, or
joyful.
The female-faced horse hit by an arrow on her back adds a mysterious and mystical character to this work, telling us the story of the Qin warriors buried in history.
The Terracotta Woman Project shows tradition and tells some of the history
of ancient civilization in Asia, and it reinterprets the exquisite expressions
shown on the faces of the warriors of the Qin emperor, which were produced
so unbelievably long ago.
This work also tells hidden stories by the innovativeness of the artist.