Days at the Opera

Photo by Cecily Liu / China Daily

Shavrova worries this performance art will die out if its popularity further declines and if the Chinese government doesn't sufficiently support it.

She points out a lot of the country's architectural heritage, such as Beijing's hutong, have largely vanished. If such performances as Peking Opera disappear, too, Chinese culture might be reduced to food and festivals.

Shavrova believes the solution may be to promote among youth, such as in schools.

"They have to understand that the actors are young and dynamic people, and not just some sort of old-fashioned boring people who have learned the lines by heart and are meaningless," she says.

Shavrova was born and educated in Moscow. She moved to London in 1989 and shared her studio time between London and Ireland for the next 15 years, before moving to China in 2005.

At the time, Shavrova's Irish engineer husband was working on a few architecture projects in China, so the couple relocated to China with their two children. Shavrova immersed herself in local life and the art community.

"I was really inspired by 798, the art district in Beijing. I was offered a studio, and I met some Chinese and international artists. And I felt it was a really dynamic place where I can make new projects," she says.

One of her exhibitions in China is Untouched, which compares Beijing with rural Ireland, showing old houses, walls, windows and the people in black-and-white images. Another is Borders, which shows the Russian-Chinese border. The show was inspired by her journey into China.