Video Production: Fengzhe Wang
Model: Lia Wang
Director: Qiu Yu
In the video, the model is wearing one of the designs. The two triangles on her are made of the metallic material gallium. When she lies on the floor, warm water is poured on her. Thus the gallium starts to melt. As the triangle breaks, the whole piece of clothing collapses. Therefore as she stands up, the piece of clothing falls off her body. The form of the video is another way of telling my story. The clothing on the model is like my life and experiences in China. The warm water symbolizes the action of me moving to Hungary. As I move to Budapest, my Chinese side has fallen or faded. As if I am taking off my shell. Moreover, if you pay close attention to the model's body, there are marks of gallium left on her. It represents even if my Chinese side has gone, but I will remain a Chinese since the marks are left on the body.
This series of designs are called "I.D." My initial idea came from trips when I went around Europe. I love to travel with my family and friends. During those trips, I took multiple photos. Here is some collage that I made with my photographies while traveling. I am also interested in architectures, I love to take pictures of the famous amazing buildings around the world. The geometrically shapes attract me. Thus I went online and searched for more modern and geometrical buildings. I printed them and created a weirdly shaped building. This was my initial inspiration.
Photo collage of my inspirations.
I currently live in Hungary, Budapest. I moved to Hungary at a young age, when I was 12 years old. I felt I did not belong here in Budapest. I could not fit in since I could not communicate with the locals casually. I started to obtain Hungarian lessons for half a year, but nothing was sticking in my mind. Thus I gave up. I told myself, China is where I truly belong. Moreover, I traveled back to China once or twice each year during winter or summer vacation. When I landed in China, I could feel the unfamiliarity. Since China is a fast developing and changing country, things and buildings have changed each year. The street in my hometown was a strange land to me. I could not fit in. I sometimes did think myself as a foreigner who could speak the local language. I guess my sense of belonging was lost during the flight to Budapest. Therefore, I decided to construct this series of design to symbolize the lost feelings of mine. Since the unspeakable feelings of mine were developed between my daily route from home to school, I had to pass the chain bridge to go to school. Moreover, in China, bridges can represent the sense of emotions, the missing feelings toward home. Thus, I extract the elements from bridges and construct a series of clothing. I also incorporated the shapes of triangles in my designs, since they are the strongest geometric shapes.
On the right side, there is a series of photography and an artwork created by me. In this artworks. Firstly, I had this idea when I went to France. I took a picture with my polaroid, then I held my Polaroid in front of a wall, and captured this moment with my phone. I also photoshopped a picture of my hometown to the Polaroid and the chain bridge as the background. The photo inspired me to draw a landscape of a Chinese bridge as a background. A hand sticking out of the frame and holding a picture of the chain bridge. The hand is made out of paper mache. This was the beginning step of creating my designs.
Experiments with Gallium
When I was browsing the internet, I found an interesting metal called gallium. It has a low melting point, which means it melts into a liquid form as the temperature increases above 29. 8 °C .Before gallium melts, it is in solid form, firm and hard. Same as the corporation of the triangles, strong and stable. I am trying to use this series of design to represent myself. All of the designs look edgy, harsh and strong, because of its geometric shapes. However, as you pay close attention to each design, you will find all the clothes are one piece. If the gallium melts, the whole design collapse. Just like me, I seem tough and strong on the outside. However, as problems come, I do collapse just like the gallium. The obstacles in my life are like gallium facing the warm water, can be destroyed in any second. This set of designs wanders between two extreme ends, fragile and stable.
The designs created are not wearable. Since gallium has a low melting point. Even human body temperature can melt it. Moreover, I discovered in the fashion industry, that most of the time, clothes are only worn once. Thus I want to invest in this wearability. Which is one of the reasons why I choose gallium, as it melts the whole piece of clothing is destroyed. I want to cater the fast-changing and disposable side of fashion, thus I created this set of designs.
The initial painting of the mini-series of four self-portraits called "Finding". These series depict my life and my own experiences.
Idea gathering for the second piece of self-portrait, called 'Realisation' .
The actual Second piece of artwork in this series, and inspirations from Pablo Picasso.
The extension on the second piece of self-portrait (Realisation)
"Young Young Young"
In this series of artworks, I drew 5 designs. The Sphynx cat in each design represents me. The first one is called 'denial'. Since there is a period in my life, I kept denying myself. I did not trust myself, thought myself as a failure. The first one is called 'denial'. Since there is a period in my life, I kept denying myself. I did not trust myself, thought myself as a failure.
The second design is called 'Messy Words". The background consists of sentences that I told myself during this period of depression.
Moreover, on the right side, the other design is called 'No'. This was when I stepped out from my own self-denial. Saying no to the negativity inside me.
The design on the left side with two Chinese characters on the clothing, called “无敌”. The two characters can be translated to invincible. This was when I truly stepped out of my depressing period and faced to a brighter future.
Moreover, the fifth one is called "True". The letters CHU are in the background and the shirt. Chu is my name since my foreign friends and teachers cannot pronounce my name correctly, we've settled on a name that had the closest pronunciation to my name. The reason why my name is all over the design is that when I faced all of the obstacles of denials. I upgraded to my new self. A new and true self.
I printed off my designs on some white sweatshirts. I did a photoshoot with some of my friends.
Moreover, as you pay close attention to the left side group photo. The board says "Protect the ecology. Smoking or open flames prohibited". On the right side group photo, I was holding a smoking grenade, which created the sense of rebelliousness. In this series, I am trying to express, young people, are true, real and fearless.
The third self-portrait with my imagination called "Leaving".
The final piece of the mini-series called "Future". I utilize this painting to end the series, since I am still young, and have endless possibilities toward the future.
Overlap
Acrylic on wood, collage
2017
The idea of female rebirth is presented in my own artwork. Leaving behind the old Chinese tradition; facing a brand new generation. A woman figure in the middle of the artwork separates it into two parts, three figures on each side. On the left-hand side, the old and ‘rotten’ tradition are being left out, thus the main figure is facing the right side. The right-hand side, a brand new generation is waiting for females to discover, a world without the old restrictions or stereotype. Collage is considered as more bold and new technique for me to use, therefore I think by setting it on the right side figure, it creates more bold and futuristic idea. In my own artwork, there is Chinese culture being illustrated.
On the left-hand side of the painting, there is a woman painted in the posture of bending over. The ‘rotten’ tradition of foot binding is being illustrated. Foot binding is an old custom of applying tight binding to females feet, starting at an early age for girls to notify their feet. The small foot is a trend amongst females since males favor small feet. As women wanted to please males, most of the females during that time desired to have small feet. However, foot binding can strongly harm females’ feet, destroy their feet into distorted shapes. It is one of the reasons why males favor small feet, because of the distorted feet, females were not able to walk normally; thus they were not able to go out for a long time. They were restricted to stay at home, because of their distorted feet. Moreover, the figure is wearing the traditional Chinese clothes during the dynasty of Qing, since foot binding was more recognized during Qing dynasty.
My own painting "Overlap" inspired me to initiate this series called "Fighters". I am designing the clothing for feminists who fight for gender equality. On the top of the image, there is a mind map of how I came through this idea of designing this series. Moreover, the two designs on the bottom are kind of my 'inspiration designs'
The sketches that designed for this series. At this time, my ideas were still not fully developed. As I investigate more on the topic, I came across more ideas.
A collage of fashion illustrations. I used markers and acrylic for drawing part. Fabrics, glitters and small pieces of metals are also incorporated in the designs. I was inspired by the five basic elements in China, which is Gold, fire, wood, water, and ground. I transfer each element into female characters who are the leaders of women. They guide women into a new era, where females and males have the equal rights. Moreover, the first two of the illustrations are designs of Gold. The last two are designs of fire.
The first two illustrations are for wood, which reminds of a great Chinese female leader Mulan. The middle two are designs for water and the last two are for the element ground.
木兰
Media: Acrylic, colored pencils, markers, and tempera.
2017-2018
This is one of the designs in the series of feminists, it is part of the design of wood. I chose an ancient Chinese character called Mulan. I utilize peacock feather for the top. Since in ancient China, peacock feather symbolizes royalty. Mulan has won multiple battles and defeats hundreds of enemies. She deserves to use peacock feather. The whole design is shaped like an armor, reflecting on the fact that Mulan is a soldier. But in my design, Mulan is a general who fights for female equality. Moreover, the skirt and the shoes are hollow out. It indicates, even if females do have more rights than before, but we are still toys for man's pleasure. The hollow out skirt can only cover the private part, other places are still shown. The hollow shoes are the representations of males who are a fetish. Moreover, the central idea of the design is even females nowadays have much more rights than before, but we are not still at the point of equality, there are still women controlled by males.
Media: Acrylic, colored pencils, markers, and tempera.
2017-2018
Two more detailed fashion illustration of the designs. The left side is the representative of water and the right side is the element of gold.
In this little series, I was inspired by an English poet called Carol Ann Duffy, by one of her poems called 'before you were mine'. It is a eulogy at her mother's funeral. It reminded me of how my mom lost all her bright chances toward the future because of me. The first artwork of the series is a girl holding a gift. This symbolizes the relationship between my mother and father before marriage. The second painting is when an edgy and fashionable woman standing in front of a scary baby. This represents the moment that every mother has the child. The baby sees gigantic and scary since it is a huge part of a woman's life. Moreover, the third one is a baby inside the red heel. It represents the pregnancy period of a woman. An illusion occurs when the mother decides to wear the red heel and go out partying. However, she can not, since there is a baby in her that she needs to take care of. The last painting is a child holding on the heel. It represents the lost freedom of mothers.
Make it up
Tempera
2017
In my life, makeup and drawing are two of my biggest hobbies. Thus in the slide, I painted two girls with makeup.
