A body of work bridging China's past and present

Performance art dominated the late Seventies New Wave based in Beijing's East Village. Photography in China was purely documentary until its seismic introduction to such conceptual art in the Nineties. In this small, thoughtfully curated exhibition, the two disciplines intermingle: seven photo-artists display current preoccupations with performance, tradition and the artist's body.

Made for Real's further adventures are documented. Public spaces are their stages and canvases: the traditional Monkey King myth is recreated in a Chinese tourist park with a costumed monkey, while Union sees the pair lying on tombs in an English graveyard: another challenge to the sanctity of places and mythologies.

Former East Villager Sheng Qi launched the dramatic Hand series in 1989, cutting off a little finger to represent the trauma of the Maoist regime. His outstretched palm holding a photograph of his younger self, pointedly shot against Mao's nationalist red, is enduringly iconic.

Huang Yan's contribution to the V&A's 2006 landmark exhibition of Chinese contemporary art consisted of portraits of his body tattooed with classical Chinese landscape paintings. Here, he subverts another tradition in Calligraphy of Mince, 2000, mounting glistening pork mince shaped into the characters for family names. Bai Yiluo's Calligraphy Flies creates a similarly rhythmic pseudo-language.

Wu Gaozhong's Mould Series appear decorative but comment on the destruction of China's classic buildings: spores are planted on model pagodas and traditional bridges bloom into jewel-like transformations.

A thought-provoking show, Legacy reveals the crucial significance of symbolism for artists who escaped Mao's literal dogmas and their fresh connection to China's endangered traditions.

Until 25 May (020 7355 1804, www.rossirossi.com).

Legacy: Contemporary Photographic Works From China
Rossi & Rossi
Clifford Street, W1S 3RG