XIN QING
XIN QING
Some Rebirths Begin by Refusing to Mend（2025）
Some Rebirths Begin by Refusing to Mend is a work using my own digital avatar and personal stories. This piece talks a story about how to repair and reconstruct oneself.
With regard to psychological trauma, I do researches about the bondage of facial scars to women in the Chinese society in which I live. In the Chinese social-cultural context, women's facial scars carry symbolic meanings that go far beyond the physical trauma itself. Behind it is a reflection of the double oppression of gender discipline and modern capitalist society, which has lasted for thousands of years in China.
This issue needs to be discussed in terms of both historical and social structure of China:
- On the historical aspect:
The standard of women's appearance constructed by Confucianism, the female body has been transformed into a medium for moral education. In the normative system it constructed, women's appearance was included in the scope of moral judgement. The book called Lessons for Women, which reached its peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties, equated facial imperfections directly with ‘loss of virtue’.
- On the social aspect:
In the modern society, the medical aesthetic industry and social media reinforce the standard of ‘perfect appearance’ and commodify women's bodies. Scars are seen as ‘problems’ need to be ‘fixed’, further increasing women's anxiety about their appearance.
Scars should not be a constraint on women, nor should they be gendered to have a different meaning. Everyone should be respect and acceptance, regardless of whether their body is ‘perfect’ or not.Women’s scars is also the symbols of honour - they bear witness to their resilience, courage and unique life stories.
The purpose of producing this work is to discuss the deconstruction and reconstruction of traditional notions of gender: breaking out of the prison of appearance and exploring oneself - deconstructing traditional aesthetic hegemony by transforming my individual story into public narratives.