Watercolors lift a curtain on life struggles of migrant workers

Liu Xiangdong, watercolor painter. [Photo provided to China Daily]

His current exhibition, titled Existence, shows landscapes and still lifes. The bulk are portraits of ordinary people Liu encounters in daily life: his colleagues at the school, factory girls, old men who move to join their children in Shenzhen, ethnic groups and foreigners.

His works offer a self-possessed, insightful glimpse into the mental being of the figures: intellectuals whose emotionless faces can't conceal their anxieties, youths whose eyes sparkle with confidence while revealing a sagging spirit, and migrant workers who often slightly open their mouths, indicating the huge pressure to survive in a material world.

Zhu Di, director of the watercolor art council under the China Artists Association, says although there is an understated sense of humor in these unimportant figures Liu portrays, their dignity of living is forcefully presented, urging the audience to take them seriously.

Liu's concerns for the city migrants arise from the hardships of his own early years.

Born in Hengyang of central Hunan province, he spent much of his childhood in the countryside where his father was transferred to do farm work during the "cultural revolution (1966-76)".

He remembers helping to transplant rice seedlings at the age of 5 and there were leeches on his legs after leaving the rice field.

After his family relocated to a Hengyang suburb, he had to walk a long way to school in the city center. He has loved painting since childhood. And he often practiced sketching after school and would not return home until 10 pm.

"I had to cross a hilly cemetery. It was terrifying at night. When it rained heavily, there would be a lot of dirt and mud all over my legs when I arrived home," says Liu, adding that he feels "total" empathy for today's young students who come from an underprivileged background.