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Tears That Brought Bamboo-shoots From the Frozen Earth

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A surreal colour photograph depicting a figure sitting on a green sofa, in a green-painted room. The figure wears an orange t-shirt and their head is obscured, instead replaced by a ginger root. The figure's arms are raised, elbows bent and fists clenched.

Tears That Brought Bamboo-shoots From the Frozen Earth

Date: 2021-2022
Artist: Fion Hung Ching Yan (Hong Kong Chinese)
Dimensions:
Unframed: 20.32 x 25.4cm
Medium: Photo collage
Object number: UAC 1090
DescriptionFion studied MA Photography at London College of Communication. She says:

'Exploring self-identity through the Chinese familial traditions and moral standards from the former generations through a Western perspective is a key theme in my art practice. In this project, The Skeletons In The Closet, I continue to focus on reflecting on my response towards a family trauma in 2016, the year of my grandma’s departure. This event has triggered a sense of questioning about my role and gender in family relations.

I have placed my work within a set of Chinese folktales called 24 Paragons of Filial Piety as visual metaphors to elaborate my point. In this work, I perform various bodily gestures in the images to indicate my subversive attitude towards authority, such as the hidden use of the middle finger and the display of deliberately inappropriate acts. I am also interested in discovering my identity as a female through exposing my naked body in front of the camera- this is also constituting a subversive process. Using a surrealist approach to the aesthetic of my photo collages, I am looking to create the feeling of a subversive fantasy that would never be possible in real life.'