Life, land and local rituals in rural Guizhou become canvas for creativity

Standing on his balcony in Hongjiang village, artist Wang Huaxiang imagined the surrounding karst peaks as horses galloping across the horizon. The image inspired the Central Academy of Fine Arts professor to create a sculpture that would bring the local landscape to life.

On Sept 28, Wang's 3.5-meter-tall, multicolored horse statue was unveiled in Hongjiang, a village in Libo county, Guizhou province. Leaning forward mid-stride, the sculpture captures the animal in motion.

"The red body represents vitality and passion, the gold saddle symbolizes prosperity, and the white stands for purity," Wang said.

The sculpture draws on a local ritual, fuma, associated with prayers for blessings and recovery.

During the ceremony, relatives bring a live chicken and grain, and seek the aid of a sacred horse in praying for an elderly family member's recovery, said Li Xiangming, an artist who has worked in the village for years.

One villager said it was fascinating and unusual to see the ritual horse, a traditional figure in local customs, brought to life in this way — something he had never imagined before.

Nearby, Li's own artwork takes a quieter approach. On an old wall, layers of repairs remain exposed rather than concealed. Called Old Wall Narrative, the work incorporates traces of successive renovations, from roof tiles and timber to stone, turning the history of an aging building into part of the art.

Li describes his approach as "patch aesthetics". Instead of tearing down old houses and starting over, his team reuses timber, stone and other materials salvaged from abandoned homes, adapting existing structures for new purposes. The patches on an old wall, he said, tell a story of how generations of villagers have lived.

Over the past decade, his team has restored and repurposed more than 10 traditional Bouyei houses in Hongjiang, preserving original bricks, tiles, timber and bluestone wherever possible.

Since 2017, more than 100 artists, poets and musicians have visited Hongjiang, drawn by its architecture, landscape and local culture. Some have settled in the village, while others have stayed for shorter periods.

Held in late September, the inaugural Colorful Guizhou Art Field brought photography and installation art into Hongjiang's everyday spaces. More than 1,000 photographic works and a range of installations were displayed along village streets, beside rice fields and in courtyards.

Professor Wang first visited Hongjiang at Li's invitation, expecting to find a remote rural community. Instead, he was struck by how artists had transformed its abandoned buildings.

"I went to Li's home and visited the studios of several other artists. I was amazed," Wang told local media. "Houses that villagers had discarded and left to decay had been transformed through their creativity. I thought art had made a remarkable contribution to the countryside here."

The village's landscape and locally available materials, including earth and straw, also appealed to Wang. What began as one of several possible locations eventually became the festival's main venue.

"For me, earth art uses the land, the sky and the rivers as its medium," Wang said. "In Hongjiang, the village itself becomes a giant canvas on which we can create."

Art, Wang said, does not need to be confined to museums and galleries. Paths and field ridges, for instance, can become part of an artwork while retaining their everyday uses.

As the seasons change and the light shifts, the landscape takes on new forms. The people who live and work there become part of the scene.

Painter Gong Yanjie, who has made Hongjiang her home, draws inspiration from its everyday life, painting the surrounding peaks, rice fields, farmers at work and wildlife.

When visitor numbers fall, she spends more time painting, drawing on the relative quiet of village life.

Italian photographer Francesco Tobia, who has lived in Guizhou for 17 years, has spent much of his career documenting the province's landscapes, architecture and cultural heritage. He sees traditional villages as inseparable from their natural surroundings, with buildings adding depth and texture to the landscape.

Hongjiang was among the first places Tobia visited in Guizhou, and it remains one of the many that have drawn him back.

Wang hopes the village can serve as a starting point for a broader effort to use art to revitalize rural communities across Guizhou.

An art festival's value, he said, lies partly in its ability to keep a place evolving. By inviting artists from China and abroad to create new works each year, Hongjiang can offer visitors a different experience with every edition.

Over time, Wang hopes, Guizhou will become a gathering place for artists and art enthusiasts from around the world.