Chinese, b. 1965; lives and works in London, UK
Sheng Qi graduated from the Beijing Academy of Art and Design in 1988 and has since engaged in diverse media such as performance, painting, and photography. As an act of personal defiance, Sheng reputedly cut off the little finger of his left hand following the events in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, buried it in a flowerpot, and exiled himself to London. When he moved back to Beijing in 1998, he continued to face much resistance and censorship from the government, and he has since relocated indefinitely to London. Since 2007, Sheng has featured his wounded hand in both his oil paintings and his photographs.
