Determined by cultural influence and the environment within my family, I view the female body in an aversive way.
This condition has left an indelible imprint on me that endures to this day.
Infiltration-Below the Residue is a video installation projected onto three layers of ivory chiffon membranes that hang from the ceiling. The sound of breathing plays rhythmically and consistently from the back of the space. Each layer, or membrane, has been tailored to receive the projected image with its fleshy images of female body fragments. Here the skin is presented as a reactive surface. The chiffon membranes transform into skin with its sheer, transparent and shimmery appearance; the loose folds and drapes respond to gravity and the weight of glass that has been sewn into its surface, defining its texture. Illuminated with fleshy body images, layers of the thin feathery skin membrane turn into layers of sliced body fragments. The fringes, the seams, the interwoven threads, and tailored membranes force viewers to visualize a scarred body that has been cut, sliced, torn, dissected and sewn. The breathing sound murmurs in the background as if she lingered on with scars and a touch of weeping.
Infiltration-Below the Residue is a moment in which we share a body of pain and violence that countless women have suffered in silence, especially the pain that is unseen. The pain that comes from the absence of control of their bodies and the stress and constraints that societies have placed on them.
In fact, I am unzipping the body from the cultural residue and unfolding what’s below the surface. I am redrawing a conception of body and parts, inviting viewers to consider a female body that has been endlessly manipulated, reshaped and rebuilt under social control.
Infiltration-Below the Residue, Fan Su 2020
Installation (mixed media), three panels Chiffon (Ivory), glass, looping video
