Lovers (1988) was Marina Abramović and Ulay’s final collaborative performance piece and the closing chapter of their personal and artistic relationship. For twelve years they had worked together in performances that tested endurance, trust, intimacy, pain, and presence. They conceived Lovers as a journey along the Great Wall of China: starting from opposite ends, walking toward each other, and meeting in the middle in a ritual of union, originally imagined as marriage.
The pair walked for three months, each covering thousands of kilometers through mountainous terrain, deserts, villages, and ruined wall sections, under supervision and constraint from Chinese authorities and shifting bureaucracies. The work was intended to be romantic. By the time it could happen, their relationship had already unraveled. During the walk, Abramović learned that Ulay’s translator, who accompanied him, was pregnant with his child. This revelation deepened the sense of distance and betrayal between them. When they finally met at a temple in Shaanxi, their embrace carried the full weight of what had been lost.
Images from Public Delivery.
