When my body is covered and disappears, it's not about the

The words of Liu Bolin—“When my body is covered and disappears, it's not about the relationship between me and the wall, but the relationship between me as an individual and those slogans which are used to fool the public.”—are spoken with the voice of the hidden prophet, the artist who vanishes so that truth may be seen. In them lies a cry against deception, a lament for the masks that power paints upon stone, and a declaration that the true struggle is not between flesh and matter, but between the free soul and the illusions forced upon it. His art of disappearance is not erasure, but revelation, unveiling the falsehoods that would otherwise remain unquestioned.

When he says his body disappears, he names the deliberate act of blending into the background, making himself part of the wall. Yet the wall is not empty stone—it is adorned with slogans, those painted commands and hollow promises of authority. By vanishing into them, Bolin does not show submission; he shows the suffocating weight of propaganda, the way the individual is swallowed by the collective voice of manipulation. His invisibility is not weakness, but protest. He becomes a mirror, forcing the viewer to ask: where is the human being beneath the slogans that claim to speak for all?

The ancients understood such struggles well. In Rome, poets like Juvenal and satirists like Horace cloaked their criticisms in verse, blending themselves into art so as not to be destroyed by the wrath of power. In China itself, scholars during the Qin dynasty buried meaning in allegory, hiding truth beneath layers of parable, lest the emperor’s censors silence them forever. Liu Bolin stands in their lineage, using the act of concealment to reveal what cannot be spoken openly: the chasm between the individual and the voice of authority.

The slogans he refers to are not just words painted on walls—they are symbols of control, masks of false unity, chains of language designed to bind thought. History overflows with such tools. In the Soviet Union, banners declared the glory of labor even as workers starved. In Nazi Germany, words of destiny and strength were painted across walls while millions were sent to their deaths. In every age, the ruling power has used language to cloak injustice. Bolin’s art unmasks these slogans, showing that beneath them lies a silenced people, hidden but still present.

The meaning of his words is therefore both deeply personal and profoundly universal. For every human being has felt the weight of being silenced, of being overshadowed by voices louder and stronger than their own. To disappear into the wall is to express the experience of being unheard. Yet in choosing to vanish visibly, Bolin transforms silence into resistance. He teaches us that even when the world tries to erase the individual, the act of being erased can itself expose the emptiness of those who claim power.

For us, the lesson is clear: beware of slogans, beware of words repeated until they lose truth. Always ask: who benefits from these words, and who disappears beneath them? Do not allow yourself to be fooled by the repetition of empty promises. See through the paint on the wall to the lives it conceals. Remember that the individual soul, even when hidden, has a voice, and that art, truth, and courage can pierce through the thickest mask of deception.

The practical action is this: question authority not only in its deeds but in its words. Do not accept slogans at face value; seek the lived reality behind them. If you find yourself silenced, know that even silence can be powerful when it exposes falsehood. Like Liu Bolin, use creativity, courage, and resilience to resist being erased. Stand not always in the light, but sometimes in the shadow, where your very absence may reveal what others seek to hide.

Thus let this teaching be passed down: walls may be painted with words, but truth lives in the souls hidden beneath them. Liu Bolin’s vanishing body is not defeat, but defiance; not silence, but a cry that echoes through the ages. Let us not be fooled by slogans that disguise injustice. Instead, let us honor the unseen, give voice to the silenced, and remember that the individual, though hidden, is never truly gone.