Life of a Fruit

Film & Book Design & Poster Design
2022, Degree Project

I started off by seeing the values that were enforced against women and the bodies of women. I use fruits as a representation of all the qualities and ideals that women have across all nations and mythology. How do I respond to the virtues and ideals that I am always ingesting? I created a video to respond to and consider this query.

Western art, classical music, or in this case, impressionist painters and composers, are, in my opinion, the major influences on my techniques and cultural background. I escaped to the western society, which I had assumed to be "neutral" since I was a little child, when I had to deal with the unavoidable patriarchy in Chinese culture. No matter what I assume, the bondage and single point of view remain present. In order to face who I am and whether or not I need atonement, I sought to unravel the values that I had wrapped around my body.

In addition to the cultural context, my perspective on daily conduct also contributes to my exploration for the movie. I will put on a feign when I'm in a strong or otherwise scary setting to give myself some sense of security. In order to keep myself secure, I'm abiding by the regulations. The opposite of how I truly feel and what I want to say comes through when I put on those pretend.

It begins with a deck of playing cards I made for a board game. I chose to think beyond the board game box after getting locked into a single goal. Then, I consider the connection between my life and those issues—fruits. What they represent to me. There are three questions drive my exploration: 
Have you played a separate person to keep yourself safe inside?
Have you turned into a fruit?
Have you heard the inner sound underneath the feint getting louder and louder?

I created and assembled a book called The Book of Fruits in an effort to decipher the significance of the various types of fruits. It covers the connections and relationships between fruits and legends from various cultural perspectives. Typically, "fertility," "sexual desire," and "youth" are the connotations. These cross-cultural practices shape my conduct.

How do I blend my graphic design and sketching practices is another issue I have for myself. I started with the board game playing cards. I created a series of oil pastel artworks using the chosen fruits based on the cards.

I experimented with ink to provide another layer of graphic language, breaking up the appearance of the fruits by printing out copies of the drawings and using both the front and back of the ink drawings in the designs for the poster and book.