Mirror Illusion & Phantom Shadow

About The Entry

This creation is based on the classical ghost stories and legends of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China, drawing classic texts such as “Painted Skin”, “Legend of the White Snake”, “Snail Girl”, “Yingchuang Yicao” and the historical allusion of Yang Guifei. It reconstructs and deconstructs female images in traditional ghost stories from a contemporary artistic perspective. Breaking the stereotyped labels of demonized women, virtuous wives and beauties in folk tales and traditional narratives, the work analyzes the connotation of female symbols that are shaped, disciplined and materialized under the dominance of the male perspective.

The artwork integrates multiple imagery including fox spirits, snake spirits, the Snail Girl and Yang Guifei. It adopts visual metaphor carriers such as bamboo forests, ancient mirrors, dressing tables, screens and tomb-like spaces, and uses the eerie tones and retro painting forms commonly seen in classical ghost stories to create an indistinct and hazy oriental atmosphere. On the one hand, the painting restores the wildness and authenticity of ghost stories themselves; on the other hand, it reveals the forced division, definition and restraint of female images by traditional ethics and patriarchal aesthetics. The gorgeous external appearance is the projection of male desire, while the hidden true form, snake tail and phantom shadow represent the uninhibited id and real soul of women.

Beyond the superficial narrative of love and tragedy, the work deeply explores issues such as appearance gaze, identity alienation and the symbolization of historical women. With the composition of phantom reflections in the mirror and half-hidden figures, it metaphorically reflects that people are often deceived by gorgeous appearances, ignoring the profound tragedy of human nature, demon nature and the shackles of fate behind the surface. It endows the classical ghost imagery with brand-new ideological expression in a contemporary context.