Li Xinmo filled 77 balloons with water, creating 77 water droplets. These water balloons were particularly heavy and were scattered on the stone path leading to the camphor trees. Hanging in the tree above the dead camphor trees was a balloon filled with black liquid, directly inspired by the image of the general’s skull. The black liquid symbolized the spirit of the dead. She held a razor blade in her mouth and carried a black pot filled with blue powder. This blue powder vaguely symbolized the ashes of countless dead. She took out the blue powder from the jar, while picking up the blue water droplets scattered on the roadside, and hung them one by one around her neck. Initially, her body was erect, but it gradually bent until she began to crawl. The weight of the water balloons became increasingly heavy until she could not lift her head or stand up, her body firmly pulled to the ground by gravity, reaching the limit of her endurance. Finally, she had to puncture the water balloons with her blade, and they burst instantaneously, forming a river of water. She completed drawing the blue line and reached the camphor tree where the balloon with black liquid was hung. She placed the jar on her head and poured the remaining powder over herself. She then approached the hanging balloon with the blade in her mouth, cut the balloon, which burst and splashed black liquid all over her face and body.
Li Xinmo extended the concept of theater, transforming the scene into a theatrical space. She used her body and a series of actions to construct a metaphorical visual process. Meibei’s specific history and environment provided a radically different context for this performance; there was an interrelated relationship between the place and the artist’s actions. Meibei became a vast open theater, with the interlocked camphor trees serving as realistic theatrical props. Due to the authenticity of the environment and the events, she chose to use abstract expressions. The blue balloons, usually light and drifting in the air, were made particularly heavy and lay on the ground. These blue balls covered her body, creating a dynamic installation. Her thin neck bore the weight of hundreds of pounds as she crawled and staggered forward. The black jar emanated mystery. She used the blue powder from the jar to draw a strange line on the ground, with the razor in her mouth symbolizing sharp violence. At the climax, when she cut the balloon with the razor in her mouth, the black liquid splashed out as if releasing a great power of darkness. This work is not a reproduction of a particular historical event nor an interpretation of a concept, but a way to create a visual poem through the use of the body, props, and a sequence of actions, reenacting the heaviness and pain she feels in Meibei through a ritualistic and theatrical performance.
