Pink Fantasy

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project © Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project © Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project View all images ↓
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  • Dates
    2025 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Portrait, Social Issues, Contemporary Issues, Studio, Fine Art, Photobooks
  • Location New York, United States
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Pink Fantasy explores the gendered situation, identity and agency of East Asian women, especially Chinese women living in major cities abroad through portraits and close-ups, incorporating symbolic visual elements such as the color pink and various fruits

Pink Fantasy originates from Joy Island Lei’s own experience of migration and her experience as a woman. The project explores the gendered situations, identities, and agency of East Asian women—especially Chinese women—who migrate to major cities abroad. From a social and cultural perspective, East Asian women often face gender-related norms and structural constraints. When they leave familiar environments and enter new social, cultural, linguistic, and everyday systems in pursuit of new possibilities, these situations can become even more complex. Drawing on feminist scholar Chizuko Ueno’s statement, “Being a woman isn’t a gender, it’s a situation,” the project further explores the intersections between individual experience and gender, culture, and social structures. The artist is also part of this group and is therefore one of the subjects herself.

Pink Fantasy currently features multiple Chinese women born between 1960 and 2000 who currently live in New York City. Each participant’s personal experience engages with specific themes, such as family of origin, anxiety related to identity and career, marriage, intimate relationships, fertility, gender awareness, and cultural belonging.

The project combines staged photography and constructed portraiture, and uses fruits, pink, and other metaphorical visual elements to develop a visual narrative. Joy Island invited each subject into the studio and conducted an in-depth conversation before the photoshoot. These conversations were subsequently edited into oral histories for the accompanying book. For her, the studio was not only a space for photography, but also a safe space where she could find stillness amid the major changes of her first year in New York. She therefore hopes that the photographic process can also become a space where both the artist and subject can temporarily step away from everyday life and care for one another.

Along with portraits, she shot body close-ups, usually of their hands. She chose pink as the uniform background, exploring how a color so closely associated with gender can participate in the construction of female representation. She also asked each participant to choose a fruit that they felt represented themselves and incorporated it into the image. Like pink, fruit carries longstanding cultural associations with the female body; in literature, film, and everyday discourse, women are often compared to juicy, sensual fruits. By allowing participants to choose this imagery themselves, the project also opens up new possibilities for the relationship between women and these existing symbols.

The series is included in the accompanying book and exhibited at Chateau Gallery in New York, Cambridge Photography Gallery in the UK, Chania International Photo Festival in Greece, deadbooks Gallery in Osaka, and PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, among others.

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“I’m Julie, born in the 1980s, from Henan, China, living in New York for 13 years. I realized being a woman in my teens, growing my hair long in Singapore. Marriage pressure challenged me. I followed rules in my twenties, then chose my own path with therapy and friends. I learned femininity is a choice, not weakness. For Pink Fantasy, I chose lemon: versatile, subtle, sweet or salty.”—Julie

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“I’m Julie, born in the 1980s, from Henan, China, living in New York for 13 years. I realized being a woman in my teens, growing my hair long in Singapore. Marriage pressure challenged me. I followed rules in my twenties, then chose my own path with therapy and friends. I learned femininity is a choice, not weakness. For Pink Fantasy, I chose lemon: versatile, subtle, sweet or salty.”—Julie

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“I am Xin Liu, born in the 1990s, an international student from Shanxi, China, living in New York for a year. In China, women face social pressure to marry and have children by a certain age. I grew up with an older brother. I was expected to do housework, while he was not. For the Pink Fantasy, I chose kiwi: its hairy skin acts as social armor, while the flesh reflects my softness”—Xin Liu

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“My name is Echo Gu, born in the 2000s. I am a designer, bridal stylist, and model from Dalian, China, living in the U.S. for nine years, in New York for one.Being a woman means tenderness and empathy, but also sensitivity often misunderstood. For Pink Fantasy, I chose watermelon: genuine, affordable, and refreshing. I want to be like it—sincere, warming, and leaving kindness behind."—Echo Gu

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“My name is Echo Gu, born in the 2000s. I am a designer, bridal stylist, and model from Dalian, China, living in the U.S. for nine years, in New York for one. Being a woman means tenderness and empathy, but also sensitivity often misunderstood. For Pink Fantasy, I chose watermelon: genuine, affordable, and refreshing. I want to be like it—sincere, warming, and leaving kindness behind."—Echo Gu

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“My name is Carie, born in the 1980s, from Fujian, China, living in New York for over ten years. I didn’t have a moment realizing I was a woman, but I feel pressures like fertility decline with age. I froze my eggs in my thirties to focus on life without rushing major decisions. For Pink Fantasy, I chose pineapple: representing my desire to be stronger while keeping inner sweetness.”— Carie

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“My name is Roselyle, born in the 1990s, an independent filmmaker from Beijing, China, living in the U.S. for twelve years, in New York this year. As a Chinese woman, I face online harassment from incels. The best part of being female is creating life; the hardest is others coveting this ability. For Pink Fantasy, I chose tomato: women can expand imagination without changing their nature.”— Rosely

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“My name is Roselyle, born in the 1990s, an independent filmmaker from Beijing, China, living in the U.S. for twelve years, in New York this year. As a Chinese woman, I face online harassment from incels. The best part of being female is creating life; the hardest is others coveting this ability. For Pink Fantasy, I chose tomato: women can expand imagination without changing their nature.”— Rosely

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“I am Mei Lu, born in the 1960s, an artist from Henan, China, living in New York for 13 years. As a Chinese woman, I married, had two children, faced my husband’s infidelity, and divorced. As a mature Asian female artist, representation is limited—I often organize my own exhibitions. For Pink Fantasy, I chose peaches: blossoms symbolize love, ripe fruit fertility, abundance, and longevity”— Mei Lu

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“I am Joy Island, born in the 1980s, a photographer and visual artist from Beijing, China, now in New York for one year. My female awakening came after 30, through relationship losses, age, and fertility anxieties, and self-healing over 9 years. For Pink Fantasy, I chose the apple, which resembles Asian identity. I wrote ‘love’ on it, I feel I am gradually learning to face my scars.”—Joy Island

© Joy Island Lei - Image from the Pink Fantasy photography project
i

“I am Joy Island, born in the 1980s, a photographer and visual artist from Beijing, China, now in New York for one year. My female awakening came after 30, through relationship losses, age, and fertility anxieties, and self-healing over 9 years. For Pink Fantasy, I chose the apple, which resembles Asian identity. I wrote ‘love’ on it, I feel I am gradually learning to face my scars.”—Joy Island