XSWL, curated by David Williams
18th December, 2024 until 18th May, 2025
White Rabbit Gallery
30 Balfour Street
Chippendale NSW, 2008
Australia
China’s digital age is a vibrant playground where memes, virtual WeChat stickers, puns, and jokes are used to bypass censorship and address politically sensitive topics. To keep up in this rapid-fire environment, phrases are often condensed into acronyms. The Chinese internet slang XSWL, short for “xiào sǐ wǒle” (笑死我了), means “laughing to death.” It echoes the English “LOL” but with a twist; when viewed more literally, it suggests that light-hearted fun might mask darker games at play.
Image courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery
Historically, Maoist Communism vilified leisure as bourgeois decadence, branding idleness and play as threats to productivity. Today, this perspective has been upended by the “Lying Flat” movement, or “tǎng píng” (躺平) in Chinese, which rejects excessive labour and underscores a broader critique of societal pressures. All work and no play has resulted in many young adults abandoning their jobs, opting to become “full-time children.” Similarly, the popularity of “sàng” (丧) culture among urban youth—a trend marked by a pervasive sense of despondency—reflects a shift toward black humour.
oil on canvas, 120 x 180 cm
Image courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery
In this context, art becomes an arena where the stakes are high and social boundaries are pushed to their limits. Harmless fun comes at a steep moral price that the astounding artists in XSWL are more than willing to pay. Wild colours, cartoon imagery, and everyday playthings sit in sharp contrast to an underlying sense of violent humour. Tongue-in-cheek creations shatter once-innocent veneers, warning us that it’s all fun and games… until someone loses an eye.
XSWL, curated by David Williams opens on the 18th of December, 2024 until the 18th of May, 2025 at White Rabbit Gallery
©2024 White Rabbit Gallery
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