Xin Shu
Tradition, Women, Cyborg
Class of: 2026
Major: Design and Technology BFA
Medium: A combination of multiple media
Faculty: Diana Shpungin
Prompt: Create a piece of Exquisite Corpes with a partner, using two dialogue parts and two digital parts. Give a title and artist statement for this piece as well.
This project tries to express themes we care about cyborgs, technology, breaking away from Chinese traditions, and women’s rights. In the form of exquisite corpses, Susanna took a picture of her back, half printed using Bristol paper, half printed using transparent film with images of electronic parts underneath. In addition, She utilized sliding elements on the corners so the delicate part could be detached a bit from the other part. Susanna did a digital collage with pictures of machines, a tree, and human body parts to create a form of legs and hands that connects with the upper body. In this project, Weiqin focused on the head and foot sections, primarily exploring Chinese ethnic culture and women’s rights. The head portion features a collage of news sentences from the COVID-19 pandemic, forming the image of Qiu Jin, with her mouth sewn shut to symbolize the lack of freedom of speech and the human rights violations she faced before her death. The foot section addresses the practice of foot binding, which Weiqin likens to pig’s trotters, representing the distortion of beauty standards and the issue of female aesthetics being defined by men.