PAINTED SKIN

May 2020
35×1200cm
Ink and color on cloth

The long scroll is divided into 15 chapters: Fear, Disguise, Absurdity, Scream, Hero, Peace, Guidance, Freedom, Revolution, Carnival, Protection, Spirit, Avatar, Battle, Soul…around masks that cover faces, I intend to explore the reason that true faces are covered. 

There’s a traditional Chinese saying that, the “Greater Hermits” in the cities, living in seclusion is a state of mind and sometimes it is also an evasion. The Rules of Nature of the Jungle are: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the most responsive to change.” When I was seen as an alien in an environment because of my skin color or background, hiding might be the best way to react. 

I have been stranded in New York for over 6 months and I watched the BLM marching every day. Confronted with the rising number of infected people, turbulent news of international relations, my thinking and emotions sometimes lead me to be depressed and sometimes I am aroused. I was forced to think about issues of respect and discrimination, right and wrong, identity and attribution in anxiety and conflict, to further explore the intrinsic meaning of a life if the external form is stripped off and color of skin is ignored.