Installation
1.5m*1.97m，
Paper, Resin, Film, Plush toys
The work originates from my probe into a "pre-existing color" of my body.
I direct my focus to a shared "flaw", namely the premature greying of hair, which traverses the gene of three generations in my family - my grandmother, my mother, and myself. This physiological trait, often perceived as a "flaw" or a sign of "premature aging" in our societal aesthetics, constitutes a secret yet robust thread of transmission among us.
I extracted the shared pathogenic genes of the premature greying of hair, encapsulating their DNA electrophoresis patterns within acrylic panels. Simultaneously, I placed the white hairs from my grandmother, my mother, and myself upon an old cotton coat my mother wore at the time of my birth, and scanned them for a photograph. Finally, employing the biological metaphor of a "skunk", I placed three skunk plush toys at the center of the exhibition space. I try to break the stereotypes of "pathologization" and "anomaly". The skunk’s black-and-white markings transform into a metaphor for familial identity, instead of anything “odd”.
This practice constitutes a deep engagement with female experience of mine. By examining the bodily characteristics shared among the women in my family, I attempt to challenge the prevailing societal aesthetic biases upon body and shift the female body from its status as an object of "being watched and modified" to a subject of "carrying time’s profoundity and inheritable dignity". The female body exists as a layered temporality, and the past of previous generations does not fade but endure as living imprints that are dynamically inscribed within the bodies of their descendants.
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