The Sunken Paradise
The painting questions and reinterprets The Rape of Europa through constructing a scene from Fang Siqi’s First Love Paradise, an autobiography of a sexual abuse survivor. Throughout history, we have romanticized rape. Even victims themselves were forced to believe they loved their perpetrator. I challenge this belief by incorporating contrasting elements: fantastic yet collapsing castles, iridescent yet contaminated water, blooming lacerating flowers yet. Perpetrators could use metaphors for distorting trauma into love, but as allies, we can use metaphors to restore the authentic situation and feelings behind the agony.
Lost in Each Other
Water rains down and overflows. City, people, mind, all out of control, yet insulated in their frantic island. The light was unreachable amid the torrent and wind. No one knows when this will be over.
Like all the characters, we have lived in an insulated world since COVID-19’s arrival. The technology that connects us now confines us in our electric, glitzy chambers. We become afraid of the light, afraid of conversation, the only glimmer of hope that can usher us from our artificial castle. However, the girl gazes in the direction of the light: one day, we will reunite under the sunlight, the clouds will disperse, and our barriers will dissolve.