– Artist’s statement –

Growing up, what the society and my text books are trying to tell me were that I am living in an age which information is more open than ever — “freedom” and “equality” are what my nation had achieved. For a short while, it was, until a wall was built on our internet by our nation, and a group of internet police started to look into everyone’s post to delete and block things. Luckily, studying in international schools have given me chance to look at a bigger world outside the wall. Being able to see more and know more about myself, the society, and the world, I had developed my own opinions upon things, and of course, some are more harsh than the “normal ones”. Although I am fortunate enough to have open-minded parents, friends, and some great teachers who listens to me, and supports me, I find myself struggling on the process of getting my opinions exposed to the public. This is not because I have insecurity on showing people who I am, but telling them may make me not only a target of the general public, but also the government. For example, posting topics about feminism and  LGBTQ groups can easily get blocked, and whoever posted it can be banned to post. In that environment, I feel that covering my mouth up, not talking, is the best way of protecting myself and my opinions.

In this project, for the first two photos, I want to show how in my life, I feel so unsecured for speaking, and eventually, I don’t talk any more. In the next two, I express my feel of being trapped, not able to speak, and how I am trying to escape but never succeeded.