What am I in this scenario?
Date
2015
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
As a witness to the last two decades of China’s accelerating development and societal
upheaval, I am specifically interested in the nation’s changes and social phenomena. I
doubt myself to be a true Chinese person because I vacillate between my traditional
Chinese identity and the seductive Western world. What constitutes a Chinese person
besides birthplace and nationality nowadays? Why do I suddenly find myself
experiencing a cultural identity crisis? When and why did I realize that this crisis is an
equivocal obstacle in my daily life? Being a spectator now, a graduate student in the
United States, undoubtedly provides me with another lens to look backwards and
contextualize what I’d already experienced in China and simultaneously look forwards to
ascertain what I will present through my art. This perspective allows me to make work
that utilizes a deeper connection to a wider range of the world. I attribute the multifarious
grand narratives about the social symptoms of China, such as the influence of China’s
economic transformation, the reforming social ideology and the cultural resistance, to
the fundamental basic needs of humans by focusing on my personal perspectives of daily
life. My terminal work attempts to explore and unravel the questions above by displaying
many domestic home-like sets. They include various objects, furniture and fictional
narratives, which allow me to integrate my intrinsic knowledge of Chinese cultures while
drawing abstractions from social clashes. What can I contribute to this age of
cultural homogenization? What kind of future will I face? How can I convince myself to
be in step with the tide of the times without being conservatively nostalgic or complacent
about what I used to be?
Description
8 pages
Keywords
Identity, China, Cultural homogenization, Nationality