Yingmei Duan

Yingmei Duan is a fantastic artist. I saw her perform 'Naked' during the Last Manchester International Festival in 2009.

Here's something I wrote at the time about my experience of her work...

She is naked and walking slowly around the space as if in a trance. She pauses between each step and sways gently. I watch her move and hear her breathing as she walks towards me. She slowly touches her breasts. Her eyes are closed and I am looking at her. I notice there are people watching her and keeping their distance. A man walks into the room and pauses near her. I watch her walk slowly towards him. She passing around him, slowly touching her breasts and breathing still in her trance like state. She finally passes him and he walks away from her. She then slowly makes her way towards me, gently swaying. I think she can sense me. I am frozen. I think about leaving but my feet are determined to stay. I want to know what is going to happen. She gets closer to me and it is too late to move. I can feel every eye in the gallery turn towards us. She is very close to my body now and for a moment I don't know where to look. My heart is beating very fast. I close my eyes and concentrate on her movements and her breathing. Before she leaves me she pushes her body into mine. I am surprised and at first I am worried that I have done something wrong. She walks off slowly pausing between each step and sways. I pause for a moment and think about what just happened, resume then walk away.

Yingmei Duan also performed at the Vital festival at Chinese Arts Centre in 2006 and 2007. Below is a link to her website.

Yingmei Duan