China Institute

The China Institute downtown site is located at 104 Washington Street, off Rector Street. They had Prune Nourry’s «Terracotta Daughters» exhibit from 9÷11÷14 — 10÷4÷14. Admission is free! The place is open but currently under construction. The Terracotta Daughters exhibit was magnificent and really evoked the presence of the original Terracotta soldiers in Xian, China. The 108 statues were modeled after 8 orphan girls in China. Ms. Nourry asked the assistant craftsmen to give each statue an individual face so all 118 statues look different. The exhibit is also accompanied by a short film, which will be turned into a full length documentary. Unfortunately this was the only exhibit scheduled for the U.S. It was just stunning to see all the statues lined up together — so innocent and beautiful. At first, the Chinese craftsman thought Ms. Nourry was crazy — who would want Terracotta statues of girls?! As they got into the project more, it became a true labor of love and all of the fellow artists fell in love with the girl statutes. One of the men even declared girls were better than sons. I hope they will bring the exhibit back to NYC some day so more people can see it.