Beyond the Gaze

As an Asian female artist, my work reflects on how female identity is shaped by social and cultural structures, and how the societal gaze participates in constructing that identity. The project engages with the notion of a “dissolving” female image shaped by structural inequalities and systemic bias. Women—particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds—are frequently rendered peripheral within dominant narratives. Consciously or unconsciously, identities become diluted, fragmented, or redefined through external expectations and inherited power structures. 
The mirror functions as a critical metaphor within the work. It represents the gendered bias and cultural filters that distort perceptions of women—mechanisms that assign value and competence before individuals are genuinely seen. The reflection is never neutral; it carries the imprint of institutional frameworks. 
What is visible can be misleading, and what remains invisible often holds equal weight. Through fractured and distorted avatars, the work gestures toward the space between presence and erasure, bridging the visible and the unseen. It imagines a reality in which historically overlooked women exist beyond the constraints of race, gender, or class.