Teeth Cleaning

Project notes

New York, 2026. Liu Qiming makes the process of teeth cleaning part of an independent art project. The camera records the mouth, the care providers’ hands and their instruments at close range, retaining the sounds of the procedure and conversation on site.

In After Cleansing: The Body, Social Relations and Visual Resonance in Three Works by Liu Qiming, Grace Yang reads this project alongside the performances Cleansing (2012) and Washing Hands (2013). She considers the body’s shift from receiving the residue of cleansing to becoming an object of care, and the visual resonance of the “red circle” across the three works.