The second studio project is to use found objects to create a piece that expresses a type of micro-aggression about my own body. I started by thinking about my own experiences, the thing that came up to my mind is the anxiety of aging. I think the anxiety of aging is huge in many cultures, it feels like there is some kind of unspoken timeline for women for what we are supposed to do in different periods of time. I grew up in a traditional Chinese family, although the entire society has became much more open-minded, I still hear my relatives telling me to hurry up and get married, or describing women who chose not to get married by the age of 35 as “Leftover Lady”. Although some of these may not be completely hostile, but it does make me feel very uncomfortable as a woman.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35994366
Above are screenshots of an advertisement from Japanese cosmetic brand SK-II who talked about this whole “Leftover Lady” struggle in China. After this ad went viral on Chinese social media, many women of the same situation came up and shared their experiences.
I went on to find the objects that I’m going to work with, and a sheer purple dress with very beautiful transparency crossed my mind. I’ve had the dress for a while but never had the chance to wear it. I was very attracted by the texture and the very mysterious feeling it creates, and it also reminds me of the curvy and soft women figure. I also found a clock with metal frame to represent the pressure of time.
Sketches
And then I tried several ways to combine these two objects together. Among all I think hanging the dress on a string should be the best fit for symbolizing the relationship between women and time. By hanging the dress, it creates textures that looks like wrinkles on our body, but it looks beautiful and elegant. It is impossible to completely ignore the fact of aging, or isolate from the conventional expectations of women, but women should not hate aging and treat time as enemies. we should accept it to be part of ourselves.
