tender
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Dates2019 - Ongoing
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Author
- Locations Hobart, Beijing
From initially exploring photography through live music then finding my passion in the female form, I realised that I am a maker of innovative images who enjoys working on female nudity. I enjoy combining my various interests in the philosophy behind femininity, the fascination of female sexuality, with objects such as lingerie, flowers and pigment, in the hope of displaying the beauty and sacredness of female body, along with its aesthetic nature.
The works that I have selected for this application are from my current project ‘tender’, which is an on-going project started from 2019, aim to capture women’s body through a female gaze. The name comes from Sylvia Plath’s novel “The Bell Jar’, a conversation between Dr. Nolan and Esther, -‘What does a woman sees in a woman that a man cannot see?’ -‘Tenderness.'
None of the girls that I’ve photographed are professional models, many of them were strangers who I had met through mutual friends and social networks before they came to be photographed by me. These works not only documented the beauty of each person’s body but also represent a special trust between us.
This year I started my project in Beijing and set a challenge for myself which is photographing 100 different women and their bodies as a part of project ‘tender’. All of them are strangers from the internet and we didn’t know each other before we actually met. Slowly, I found this photography project has became a form of performance art — as I listening to each woman’s story towards their body I then project my opinion into the artwork. Each person that I have photographed has a fascinating, spectral, and unforgettable story. During the shooting with each individual, I could feel the splash of emotions between us. Even after the photoshoot, I think about the girls that I’ve photographed — I think about their words, their behaviour, and that represents a unique soul. These emotions and stories have inspired me. After 3 months of shooting this year I started to interview with the girls and document their voices. We talk about everything related to women and a woman’s body, that I have gathered the audio texts and the videos that I made, and create a documentary to support my photography works.
This series along with all my works have always been centring around feminist art. I also think about sexual objectification theory while making them: when a woman’s body is shown to public against her will, such as pornography, sneak videos or photos, that has made woman the individual that can be gazed by anybody and lose her power; when a woman is willing to show her body under her will, that has exchanged the power between the woman and the gazer, and women can take back the power of gaze.