An open hand with a bullet wound in the middle probably lies somewhere in the dark security storage of the Sanhe Public Security Bureau.
The hand — a painting, not literal rotting flesh — is the artwork of the Gao Brothers titled, “Memory 1989” or “Pierced Memory,” a memorial honoring the victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre that took place 36 years ago today.
Like that piece of art, Gao Zhen, one half of the artist duo, sits locked away in a prison cell in Beijing, awaiting sentencing on charges of “slandering China’s heroes and martyrs.” All for drawing attention through art to what Beijing has been trying to erase from history for nearly four decades — the moment when those who fought for freedom were shot down by state bullets.
