Above is the a quote from Fan Xi’s interview at the “Questions for May 17th Discussion.” As an contemporary artist raised and born in mainland China, Fan Xi has been dedicated into photography that reveals the reality of society. Her work mostly associated with females, females’ identities and personal identities’ formation and development under current Chinese society. The essay will mainly be discussing Fan’s latest work Up Front to further engage this identity issue existing in contemporary mainland China, along with the discussion the importance of Fan Xi’s work and how it has introduced a new conversation of LGBT art category in China.
The analysis and understanding of identity have always been hot topics in art creation. Artists …show more content…
First of all, the color contrast between the subject and background is drastic. On another level, the clear contrast of pale nudity and black background underlies the tension between lesbian group and society. The subjects standing in front of the camera, even though they trust the photographer, are showing their anxiety to the public. Since they know the pictures will be exhibited and shown to countless audience, who may be judging and criticizing their lesbian identities. It is obvious and easy to capture the anger, fear,and anxiety in the photographs. These subjects reactions offers observation and proof of the idea in the book “The Photography Reader” edited by Liz Wells that “personal memory and photography is inextricably intertwined (376).” If the subjects have not been treated unfairly, they would not express such negative facial expressions and anxious feeling in front of the camera. Moreover, the subjects in Fan’s Up Front series all carry the masculine characters in their lesbian relationships. And of course, their non-female like behaviors are judged, questioned and discriminated in China, as the mainstream recognition of female identities is still fixed and
The analysis and understanding of identity have always been hot topics in art creation. Artists …show more content…
First of all, the color contrast between the subject and background is drastic. On another level, the clear contrast of pale nudity and black background underlies the tension between lesbian group and society. The subjects standing in front of the camera, even though they trust the photographer, are showing their anxiety to the public. Since they know the pictures will be exhibited and shown to countless audience, who may be judging and criticizing their lesbian identities. It is obvious and easy to capture the anger, fear,and anxiety in the photographs. These subjects reactions offers observation and proof of the idea in the book “The Photography Reader” edited by Liz Wells that “personal memory and photography is inextricably intertwined (376).” If the subjects have not been treated unfairly, they would not express such negative facial expressions and anxious feeling in front of the camera. Moreover, the subjects in Fan’s Up Front series all carry the masculine characters in their lesbian relationships. And of course, their non-female like behaviors are judged, questioned and discriminated in China, as the mainstream recognition of female identities is still fixed and