The Dilemma of the “Other”
The Dilemma of the “Other”
2025
China
This series centers on the dislocated relationship between the individual and the collective, using a surreal visual language to deconstruct the loneliness and confusion of the “other” in contemporary society.
1. Why Is Everyone a Balloon?
Set within a classroom, all “individuals” are reduced to floating balloons, except for a single sphere marked with a polka-dot pattern. The lightness and homogeneity of the balloons correspond to the conformity and symbolic flattening of the group, while the abrupt presence of the polka-dot sphere alludes to the isolation of those who refuse assimilation within a disciplinary environment. Through visual contrast, the work questions whether the “unity” of the collective entails the erasure of individuality.
2. Why Am I the Only One Like This?
Against a background of mottled visual noise, the girl is the only clearly rendered figurative presence, while all others appear as blurred black silhouettes. The opposition between clarity and obscurity juxtaposes self-awareness with collective confusion. The girl’s “difference” is not a matter of choice, but a condition of being passively exposed within a faceless crowd, conveying the weightlessness of self-identity when one becomes the “other.”
3. Why Does It Keep Raining?
Although rain is a shared environment, only the girl holds two umbrellas—one raised above her head, the other clutched tightly to her body—while all other umbrellas float ownerless in the air. Here, rain signifies an ongoing condition of pressure and constraint in everyday life. The double umbrellas suggest a state of excessive defense, in which protection and confinement coexist, implying a closed loop of solitude in the face of persistent adversity.
