YOU DEFINETELY LIKE IT2023.6
210x297mm
Digital Drawing & Screenprinting
This is a textile screen print that explores the impact of childhood toys on gender perceptions and reflects on people's gender stereotypes. In the form of three hanging cloth narrative illustrations, this work tells the gradual reflection of the characters in traditional gender cognition.
This work won the Excellence Award in the professional group of Free Creation in the 9th China Illustration Biennial.
In our upbringing, every small thing or interest seems highly gendered. Boys like to play racing games, while girls prefer dress-up games. Boys are good at math, while girls are good at language. Most of the toys I received as a child were Barbies and princess dolls. Similarly, this social environment also oppresses males. Boys are taught not to cry or become beautiful. Parents seem to never question why girls must like pink and boys must like blue.They simply pass on these stereotypes to their children out of tradition, consciously or unconsciously.
If a girl and a boy perform equally well in science, people would say that the boy has the potential to become a great scientist, while the girl can only be expected to become a science teacher.Teachers and scientists are equally great, but not be expected to achieve more always makes people feel sad. Gender stereotypes gradually determine women's future achievements, and most people in society do not expect women to succeed.This often makes me wonder: If I had not been so strongly influenced by gender stereotypes, would I have become a completely different person? With these questions in mind, I officially began the creative phase of this project.
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When I was a child, I loved playing with dolls, listening to fairy tales, and taking care of "babies" with other kids. Did I choose these things myself? I don't know, as a child, I didn't have the ability to think about these issues. I only remember asking my mom for cute dolls and princess crowns.
As a child, my image of parents was tall and sturdy.The images that often appeared in the fairy tale books they read to me were handsome princes riding white horses and princesses accompanied by holy, pure unicorns.The "horses" that surround women are the purest and kindest animals in legends, while the horses that surround men are powerful, tall, and magnificent. Look, from an early age, they have assigned gender color to horses, but I can't see it.page02
When I grew up, I realized the discrimination society had towards me.They told me that I was not as rational as boys, and that I lacked logical thinking.The best people in society
are all male. I finally saw the thorns that had bound me for so many years and felt the injustice.
I feel like my future path is like a deck of poker, the destiny cards, some of which were never dealt to me from the very beginning, so how can I play those poker?page03
I began to think, what kind of person would I be if I hadn't been influenced by these gender stereotypes? Would I be a knight with a sword from a fairy tale, or a scientist conducting experiments in a laboratory? I might no longer be a gentl and weak person, a traditional women character. I could be anything possible.When I realized the injustice and pain, how could I just sit and wait for death? I don't want to be restricted by all kinds of invisible rules anymore. I will start to pursue all my possibilities.
Photography
Exhibition