Linshu was born in the Year of the Tiger more than three decades ago, in 1986. Now an artist in Shanghai, her work reveals an unexpectedly colorful and intimate side of China’s dynamic history.
She spends night after night stooped over her drawing table in a farmhouse in northern Shanghai. She finds inspiration in everything from colorful folk art to Chun Gong — an ancient style that depicts erotic scenes from past dynasties.
Making a career as an artist can be lonely, but to her, being a tiger means persevering and sticking to what she loves — even if that means spending nights alone in a cold Shanghai farmhouse. At least, she says, she can talk to characters from the past who flow from her brush.
