Yujie (Jamie) Fan
Yujie (Jamie) Fan
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? / clay, foil, acrylic / 60cm x 50cm x 30cm I connected “Snow White” with plastic surgery. The attitude of the stepmother to her feature makes me think that now many young girls do too many plastic surgeries in order to be “beautiful”. In my work, the woman has big eyes, high nose, full lips and fancy jewelry. But does the action of seeking beauty blindly benefit them or not? There are many cracks on her face and body in my work. That reflects the fact that caring too much about feature looking may hurt people.
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair./ card, spray paint/ marker 177 cm x 60 cm x 55 cmI connected the story “Rapunzel” with PUA (Pick Up Artist). The prince uses Rapunzel's hair to get into the tower and wins her heart which makes me think of PUA, which poisoned many innocent girls. They deceive the girls and win their hearts, fortunes and assets. In my work, I made a standing girl with a suffering face. I made the end of her long hair steps and wrote pick up words on it to represent the way the PUAs deceive the girls.
Who cannot live with honor must die with honor. / Card, LED lights / , 50 cm x 40cm x 8 cmI connected “Madame Butterfly” with Honor Murder. Butterfly, a Japanese geisha was abandoned by an American military officer. She killed herself because she believes that by dying with honor she can redeem herself. That reminds me honor murder in islamic areas. Women are killed because they want to keep their families “honor”. So in my work, I used Islamic patterns to represent Islamic culture and a woman in kimono to represent Japan.
- Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. / Card, string, marker 40cm x 60cm x 30cm
She had built her house of bread only in order to lure them to her. Paper, ink, LED lights, card 60 cm x 45cm x 6 cmI connected “Hansel and Gretel” with child trafficking. The witch built a house full of candies and bread to lure the lost children, then eat them. That makes me think of child trafficking that people sell children and make them as child laborers. I did several layers in my work. The back layer is a house in the forest which echoes the story. There are children gathering in a room and a butcher who is cooking mice in the main layer. And on the frame layer, I drew candies and dessert.
We're all mad here. Card, charcoal, acetate, paper 88cm x 45cm x 10cmThe work incorporates “Alice in Wonderland” and digital addictions which include internet addictions and gaming. The Taiwanese game “Devotion” was banned in Mainland China because the team insulted Chairman Xi in a piece of yellow paper. That reminds me of the tyranny under the Red Queen. To echo the story, there is a tree hole, and inside of the tree hole is a different world. To echo the game, I made a yellow sheet that is exactly the same as in the game and a gamepad on the box.
I'll risk my life and weather raging storms. Ink, paper 91 cm x 60cmI connected “The Peony Pavilion” with feminism. The story was forbidden at that time because it reflects the women’s strong desire and pursuit of free love under a feudalism society. That makes me think of feminism. Women pursue freedom for themselves over hundreds of years. In my work, I used ink to draw a woman sitting in the pavilion and looking outside and made 3D peonies around the pavilion. It shows that women’s desire of breaking the social norms and being the actual blooming peonies.
It is Turandot! Turandot! Ink, paper 91cm x 50 cmI connected “Turandot” with women’s values. People think Turandot is a terrible princess instead of a wise woman because she would only marry the man who can answer all her riddles. No matter when, women are watched to be perfect by a unique value to define women. In my work, there are things that “women should like” - roses and jewelry - beside Turandot’s feet and the things that “women shouldn’t like” - books and swords - on top of her head. That satirizes the stereotype towards women.