Kurt Tong: In Case it Rains in Heaven
Kurt Tong: In Case it Rains in Heaven Traditionally, many Chinese people believe that when a person dies they leave with no earthly possessions, and it is left to their descendants to provide for them in the afterlife until they are reincarnated.
Gallery 1 Joss paper, made from coarse bamboo paper, is burnt as an offering to the dead and is often made to resemble gold or silver money. Some believe that the money will enable their ancestors to live lavishly in the afterlife, or that it may be used to bribe the guards of the underworld to escape. Since 2009 artist Kurt Tong has been photographing what is a growing market in China for increasingly elaborate paper offerings. These objects, found largely in Hong Kong, are either mass-produced or custom-made and range from mundane household items such as microwaves and hairdryers, to replica sports cars, iPods and fast food meals. While some items are still traditional in form (money, houses, servants), many reflect a growing consumer culture in China. The offerings exist as indirect portraits or memento mori, but can also be seen as aspirational, giving the dead what they never had while alive.
While the practice of burning paper objects is officially banned in China, it has always been tolerated. In 2006 however, it was reported that paper prostitutes, Viagra, condoms, ecstasy and gambling equipment were found on sale outside cemeteries which led to a crack down of the more extreme products. As a response to this ongoing practice, Tong’s work occupies a space between art and documentary photography. In Case it Rains in Heaven is a poetic catalogue of remembrance at the same time as a snapshot of a living tradition which continues to be updated. More recent developments of this practice now include burial web sites which allow descendants to select digital items for online burning.
Kurt Tong Since gaining a Masters in documentary photography at the London College of Communications in 2006, Kurt Tong has gained wide acclaim for projects including ‘People’s Park’ which documented the now deserted Communist era public spaces in China and was awarded the Photography Book Now competition and the coveted Jerwood Photography Prize. Tong’s work has been widely published and exhibited around the world at venues including: The Royal Academy, Impressions Gallery, Abbaye de Neumunster, Fotofest in Houston and Photofusion in London. Kurt currently lives and works in London and Hong Kong. Hear Kurt discuss his work on 20 November at 2.30pm Tickets £13, concs £11, includes gallery admission. Members £5.
Ancestor worship Although the practice of burning joss paper objects for ancestors is most often carried out at certain times of the year at burial sites, ancestor worship also takes place in homes in China at ancestor altars. Replica ancient bronzes are often found on such altars and can be seen in direct comparison with the historic bronzes on display here. Although the detail of exactly how vessels were used to worship ancestors is not entirely clear, their forms suggest certain functions particularly in relation to ceremonies involving sacrifices of food and wine which were offered to the ancestors. Many vessels bear inscriptions to the dead, showing a personal link to individuals in the afterlife. These bronzes and their inscriptions are in many ways the historic precursors to the personalised joss paper objects offered to ancestors today.
Like the act of burning joss paper, the burning of incense is also often associated with ancestor worship. Bronze censers in the shape of mountains were often used to burn incense, as mountains were thought to be the abode of the immortals. The burning incense would form a swirling mist around the mountains, symbolically suggesting a link with the souls of the afterlife.
Chinese ritual vessels 1. Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 9)
Bronze incense burner
2. Early Western Zhou dynasty (about 1100-771 BC)
Bronze ritual food vessel, Teng Hu gui, about 1100BC
A gui was a ritual vessel for offering food which would have been part of a set of vessels. This food basin is one of the most important in the collection here and is famous for its inscription inside which records that it was made for offerings to the dead and for a relatively high ranking ancestor in the feudal court of Teng, which is located in the modern province of Shandong in north-eastern China.
3. Late Shang dynasty (about 1500-1050BC)
Bronze ritual wine vessel and cover, you, about 1100 BC
This is a standard form of wine vessel adapted from a simple pottery flask, the twisted handle copying a rope handle which may have been used on pottery versions. When lifted off the body, the lid could be used as a saucer. An inscription on the base and lid reveals that ‘Fu made this sacred vessel for Father Gui’.
4. Late Shang dynasty (about 1500-1050BC)
Bronze ritual wine vessel, jue, about 1200BC
Like the gui, the jue is a very ancient vessel type. It seems to have formed a pair, or set, with the gu from at least 1500BC. By the end of the Shang dynasty, when this piece was made, jue were used in large numbers, often in groups of five or more in tombs of the highest élite. The overall shape is among the earliest surviving bronze forms and the two upright posts near the spout were possibly used for holding the vessel when lifting it from over a fire.
Gallery 2 aper houses were among the first items to become available as P offerings in Hong Kong, largely due to the overcrowded housing which people live in. With space at a premium in this rapidly growing metropolis, burial plots are also hard to come by and often exist in high-rise columbaria (place where funerary urns are housed for public worship). Furnaces are found all over Chinese cemeteries for the burning of Joss paper and other paper items. Film:
With Love, From Earth to Heaven Approx 8 minutes
This film, shot by Kurt Tong, shows the domestic burning of the paper objects he photographed for In Case it Rains in Heaven. All the items seen in the exhibition were burnt as offerings to his ancestors.
Gallery 3 Historically the practice of burning paper objects has its origins in Neolithic times with the burying of grave goods. In time, real objects were replaced by bronze or terracotta replicas, many examples of which can be seen in the adjacent Chinese Collection and on display in these galleries.
5. Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period (475-221 BC)
Bronze ritual wine vessel, hu, about 500-300 BC
6. Western Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9)
Painted pottery jar, about 100BC
These two wine vessels show how the media of ritual objects changed over time. Originally the vessel was made in the more expensive bronze (itself referencing leather containers used by nomadic people on China’s border), later replaced by a cheaper
and more easily produced ceramic version. This substitution made the vessels affordable for less high-ranking members of society. 7. Tang dynasty (AD 618-906) Ceramic painted equestrian figure, about AD 700-800 Horsemen such as this were made to be buried in a tomb. They would have been placed with a number of other figures to accompany the deceased in the afterlife. Each horse is finely modelled, with an expressive head and a long mane composed of a number of strands of applied clay.
Resources room Visit our exhibition Resource area where you can leave a comment about the exhibition, look at books related to Chinese burial rituals and find a paper object for someone you know.
During the Winter Weekends at Compton Verney artist Feng-ru Lee will be delivering a drop in activity focusing on paper objects. You will be able to make your own 3D objects out of paper to take away. Sat 4 and Sun 5 December Sat 11 and Sun 12 December 11-4pm
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