Synopsis: In my hometown of Fujian, China, many middle-aged and elderly women suffer from the mental illness of “psychosomatic disorder”. They have spent the first half of their lives being forced by men to ‘domesticate’ themselves again and again, trained to become the ‘good girls’ and ‘good wives’ expected by the ‘whole family’ to contribute selflessly to the ‘continuity of life’ and the ‘prosperity of the family’, at the cost of stripping themselves of their character, their hobbies, their passions – and of their own. But where did their souls – their true selves – go, perhaps remembered only by the objects? and photographs they used to use? The project’s aim is to call public attention to the awareness of mental health issues of middle-aged and elderly women in Fujian, whose complex mental states I am trying to express through virtual theatre.
Video – I have, with permission, collected many objects from childhood to pre-marriage and some items used by middle-aged and elderly women in Fujian. I intend to deconstruct these objects and reconstruct them into a huge theatre that is fluid, a fluid representation of the ‘self’ of middle-aged and older women struggling in this cultural environment. This form of deconstruction comes from feminist social constructionism, which states that “an understanding of the female self must first enter the world of self-representation.
Director: Jiafeng Qu
Writer: Jiafeng Qu
Producer: Jiafeng Qu
Country of Origin: China
Language: English
Subtitles:
Runtime: 00:01:45
Student’s Project: Yes
Jiafeng Qu
Bio: Qu Jiafeng is an interdisciplinary artist and director active in China and the United Kingdom. Graduating from the Royal College of Art in the UK, he is the founder of DigiCreate Art. He is devoted to the intersections of art, philosophy, anthropology, and science, such as artificial intelligence (AI and locality, AI narratives), generative art, video art, virtual technology, and spatial interactive installations. His works explore the physical expression of supra-sensuousness, (Haraway) complex co-existence systems, and the necessary interweaving of art’s function within urban technological environments.
His works have been selected and awarded multiple times at art exhibitions and film festivals, including the Beijing International Film Festival, Beijing College Student Film Festival, Macau International Micro Film Festival, Asian International Youth Film Festival, Shanghai International Short Film Week, and others.