Introduction
] put my other four diptychs here because they are more like a series to me. I made theses four diptychs based on the problems I thought and my opinions about my theme: Gender. I will describe the diptych, write a short reflection about why I chose the materials I am investigating and how I think they successfully support the content of my topic. I will also write a brief statement about the feedback I received in critique
2. MY BODY-MY SOUL
Details
About this Diptych
For this diptych I made two digital pictures, and they could be printed on paper. The material I used maybe just paper or digital, but I think this is proper with my idea for creating a poster-like diptych. The benefit is that it is really simple to show my work and let more people to see because I want more people to see this work and think about what I want to talk about. I want people to think about the exact gender of themselves, or, their souls. When I think about my gender, I’m confused. Of course my body is female, but I feel like my soul is sometimes male and sometimes female. I think the gender of my soul is unstable and constantly changing, so it cannot be measured by a single gender. Just as one word: gender fluidity, I feel my gender is also fluid. That’s the reason I chose a wooden doll and wrote “ME MY SOUL” on the right side. The wooden doll has no gender, but it also can be any gender.
Questions
At first I wanted to ask my classmates that do their souls have a particular gender or not? If they have, what genders are they? Why they think they have these genders or why not? When I thought about my gender, I questioned myself: Am I really a GIRL? No doubt that my physical body is a girl, but what about my soul? Because the professor wanted me to ask questions about the materials of my works, I asked my classmates whether I should improve the materials and whether there was anything to be improved in the details of my works. I also asked if they understood what I was trying to say?
One of my classmates suggested that I should replace the text on the picture with handwritten text (both printed and handwritten on paper). I think because digital pictures are mainly distributed online, handwriting is not necessarily better than choosing fonts and then photoshop on the picture. Some students hope me to change the form of the picture into video or performance art, which is exactly what I want to do for my final work.
3. THIS IS ME.(1）
Details
About this Diptych
Same as my other diptychs, for this diptych I made two digital pictures, and they could be printed on paper. The material I used maybe just paper or digital, but I think this is proper with my idea for creating a poster-like diptych. The benefit is that it is really simple to show my work and let more people to see because I want more people to see this work and think about what I want to talk about. I photoshopped my face on the face of a male student, and the male student’s photo was as naked as mine. The audience could easily distinguish male and female bodies. The reason why I do this is that I still want to discuss my gender fluidity. Compared with the previous diptych, this work more directly expresses that I think my gender is composed of 50% male and 50% female.
Feedback
I have received many people’s praise and praise, so people thought it was really successful of showing my concept and idea through photography, the upside-down texts and the font I chose also helped me communicated my idea through my picture. It was really straightforward and the contrast was really obvious. Of course, I got some critical comments. My professor thought I shouldn’t cover my nipples with text ( the photos I printed out did not have my nipples on them). Some people thought the male figure I chose was not good. In the end, they gave me a lot of advice. People said this work reminded them of Sarah Lucas and Glenn Ligon’s artwork, so they suggested me to look up their works.
4. I love MYSELF.
Details
About this Diptych
Same as my other diptychs, for this diptych I made two digital pictures, and they could be printed on paper. The material I used maybe just paper or digital, but I think this is proper with my idea for creating a poster-like diptych. The benefit is that it is really simple to show my work and let more people to see because I want more people to see this work and think about what I want to talk about. What I want to discuss is the status and relationship of women in love and marriage. Many times in a relationship or marriage, the relationship between the man and the woman is not equal. Moreover, in recent years, many older women have been urged to marry, and older people are still using the values of decades ago to force their children to marry early. To strongly express this situation, I used yuan shikai, an “emperor” of the qing dynasty, as an example. He had many wives and concubines, and every woman loved him. They were willing to maintain an unequal relationship with yuan shikai. I put pictures of him with some of his wives on the left, and he’s sitting in the middle, and his wives are all around him, and they all look happy. I wrote: they love him. On the right, I put a picture of me sitting alone in the middle of the picture with the caption: I love myself. I hope women will put their own needs and ideas in the first place, do not care about others’ opinions, do not blindly give up their equal status for love.
Feedback
I didn’t get any feedback because I haven’t shown this work to anyone.
5. THIS IS ME.(2)
Details
About this Diptych
Same as my other diptychs, for this diptych I made two digital pictures, and they could be printed on paper. The material I used maybe just paper or digital, but I think this is proper with my idea for creating a poster-like diptych. The benefit is that it is really simple to show my work and let more people to see because I want more people to see this work and think about what I want to talk about. I wanted to explore my sexual perversion and how to deal with it. I chose to show people my other side and not be ashamed of my sexual fetish. On the left I have pictures of myself dressed up for the day and on the right I have pictures of myself naked. On my nudity, I wrote about all my sexual perversion.
Feedback
I didn’t get any feedback because I haven’t shown this work to anyone.
