Question: Does the most realistic photo happens when people are captured impromptu, with their clothes off and only faces shown, against a same background and lighting, without any pose or attention – in short, when they are photographed in a relaxing and natural status? Once born males and females are given stereotyped images. For instance, boys have short hair and dress in blue, girls long hair and dress in pink; boys play with cars, toy soldiers, Lego, etc., girls with Barbies, fluffy dolls and hello kitty. Moreover, boys must be brave and refrain from crying, and girls must be refined, almost shy... Today, however, these globally recognized gender stereotypes are not absolute.

Kate chose to shoot men and entitled the series “Beautiful Men”. Studying photography in Poland, she openly recruited her subjects through the Internet, eventually gathering at home a group of men interested in her objective. Once the background and lighting set up, they would sit quietly for 30-60 minutes, relax and follow her instructions to pose, namely to raise or lower the head, or turn left or right…The result? Seeing themselves in the final pics, some of them were surprised to notice their 'other side': a sweet, gentle appearance! For Kate, this sort of feminine feature is what human beings were born with – an innate bonhomie, regardless of gender. And it has been unnoticed in men only because we have always defined it as a 'female trait', perhaps due to the fact that since ancient times, men only wanted to see that feminine side in women. Traditionally, male artists have been depicting women as the object, but this time female artist Kate presents men in photos, capturing their inherently feminine side. 

"Her", another series of Kate's photographic works, features an online texting dialogue, presented through a retake with pinhole photography. The photos are reduced to very small size, with peripheral texts on fuzzy edges, and words in the center so small that one needs a magnifier to read – as if they were not really meant to be read clearly. Through a virtual dialogue with Siri where Siri is presumed as a male and herself a female – in a human emotional world, such psychological traits as sense and sensibility, vulgarity and elegance, are pre-assumed by people as being male or female – here Kate uses another form of narrative, to reflect on virtual vs human emotional reactions, men vs women emotional responses, once again questioning the dominant definition of such.

Contrary to Kate, who tries to re-define mainstream gender values by using her work to vent emotions, Summer directly explores the issue from a female perspective. Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s words, “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”, her work A Space of My Own, attempts to collect and present the momentary instances of a woman in her own space, speculating on the special power women held in such spaces. She photographed the states of herself in two different time-spaces respectively, being serious or at ease. She also took shots of her mother daily, of some things that she would do every day, of which the state and feeling turned out to be identical with that of a certain moment in her daily life in a different place. This subtle common trait may precisely reflect the desire of female roles in a patriarchal society to get a break and become free. In my view, I think that hereditary traits or communality factors contribute to the formation of a social norm, and that their desire to inherit and unite collectively could be the most important contributor to forming the patriarchal society.

In Impressions of Intimacy, Summer looks at sexuality and sensuality from a woman's perspective. She sectionalizes and blurs the images, expressing women’s sexual desire with thoughtful parts, using vague, fragmental memories to represent her impressions of sex. In a male dominant society, most women tend to ignore their own sexual needs, so much so that female sexual repression has become a common phenomenon. Since ancient times, male sex organ has been one of the symbols of authority, for worshipping and praising. Now with the advent of a more open era, more women voice out different sexual views, realizing their female power. 

This time, we invite four young female artists and present two exhibitions, as well as publishing four photo albums in different formats, plus two women-themed lectures in conjunction. These contents together form a set of books and textual narratives, becoming a rather comprehensive series. Nevertheless, this is just the prelude. The Women Art Series intends to present various possibilities and variabilities from the female standpoint, and even to explore some original visions. Finally, returning to the self and multiculturalism is something to be further investigated.


Si Wun Cheng, Cora
Curator