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Meme #02

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A collaged image with a colour photograph on the left and a monochrome anime cartoon on the left. The photograph depicts a hooded figure wearing a sailor fancy dress outfit. A hand reaches to the figure's shoulder from the camera's angle and the figure is half-turned toward it. The anime cartoon features a young-looking Asian character in the same outfit and position. A speech bubble coming from the anime character reads: 'his face looks like a girls so it's all good'.

Meme #02

Date: 2020-2021
Artist: Bart Seng Wen Long (Singaporean)
Dimensions:
51 x 41 cm
Medium: Digital collage, c-type print
Object number: UAC 1058
DescriptionBart studied BA Photography at London College of Communication. He says:
'Through my recent practice, I have been intentionally mistranslating/misappropriating popular cult imageries related to an East Asian fetishism - these imageries include memes, anime portrayals, and various canonical visual symbols.
In 'Meme #02', a popular manga meme that subverts gender norms and sexuality is reproduced photographically on the left side (manga are read from right to left). The reproduced image takes a playful spin on the meme’s punchline by delivering a visual punchline of absenting the ‘face’, as a way of questioning the fetishism of Asiatic facial features and the nature of appearance within a fetishist paradigm'.