燃烧 rán shāo (burning)

  • Dates
    2020 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Locations Hobart, Beijing

This project is an expression of my personal experience — it tells my story: my sexual assault, my suffering, my mental illness, my process of trauma and reflection.

Same as my other work, this work focuses on women, the body of female and utilises women’s bodies as a medium to express my inner thoughts.

I was raped at the end of 2019. Ever since the incident happened, for a long time, I have always think that having a vagina is a woman’s original sin. The biological differences between a man and a woman seemed to determine that a woman was born to suffer, and her body has became a part of her tragedy since the moment she was born. I began to blame myself for being raped and started to think that I was abandoned by the world.

After months of therapy I can finally stop blaming myself and start to reconcile with my own body, my skin, my genitalia and myself.

Rape is killing. It’s a killing of one’s soul. It didn’t actually take my life but I could feel that part of me died that night and that part will never come back to life again.

Recovery is a never ending process, and I’ve come to realise that I have to learn how to co-exist with my trauma. Art became my healing, also my way to reconnect with the world. I hope that through this project, the audience who have had the same experience could resonate and hopefully, recover from their trauma at the end.

The title of the project ‘燃烧 (burning)’ came from a Tang-dynasty Chinese poetry “野火烧不尽,春风吹又生 (the bale-fire can burn away the green, spring breeze will help it survive again)”. It was used to describe the strong vitality of wild grass, which, in my point of view, has the same character as women, resilient, vulnerable yet strong.

These works are aiming to inspire the community to pay more attention on women. It is a showcase for female to resonate, recover and relive.

© Wenrui Wu - the shape of trauma
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the shape of trauma

© Wenrui Wu - the shape of trauma
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the shape of trauma

© Wenrui Wu - your tears can grow flowers
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your tears can grow flowers

© Wenrui Wu - tragedy of a vagina
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tragedy of a vagina

© Wenrui Wu - cry, cry, you need to cry more
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cry, cry, you need to cry more

© Wenrui Wu - the shape of trauma
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the shape of trauma

© Wenrui Wu - the shape of trauma
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the shape of trauma

© Wenrui Wu - the shape of trauma
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the shape of trauma

© Wenrui Wu - reconciliation
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reconciliation

© Wenrui Wu - Image from the 燃烧 rán shāo (burning) photography project
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I killed myself last night saw the black blood dripping from the wounds on my body made me happy I'm happy now I can finally be clean again