Date of Award
Spring 6-6-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Glass
First Advisor
Rachel Berwick
Second Advisor
Jocelyne Prince
Third Advisor
Jennifer Wen Ma
Abstract
I was born into a physical body of flesh and bone, so I thought that I was one with it. As a carrier of my mind and soul, I believed that it was singular to me; that I had full ownership of it. So, why was I refusing womanhood? Was this devaluation of women a legacy? Was this a legacy unique to Chinese women?
As a woman born and raised in a metropolitan center in China, I proceeded through childhood and adolescence questioning my power as a woman. Feminine maturity and the societal pressure to follow the expectation of being a woman gave rise to a problematic schism— my changing biological reality led to a subconscious self-discrimination against my gender identification.
On one hand, my viewpoint as an artist functions as a strategy for the recognition and legitimization of my studio practice, but it is also a way to make the silenced suffering of countless Chinese women visible. This thesis is deconstructing my legacy of devaluation and an extended exploration of loss.
Recommended Citation
Su, Fan, "Unfold the body" (2021). Masters Theses. 623.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/623
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
View exhibition online: Fan Su, Unfold the body