Pink Fantasy — joyisland

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Pink Fantasy

Inspired by feminist scholar Chizuko Ueno’s statement that “women are not a gender, but a condition,” Joy Island Lei’s Pink Fantasy explores the gendered circumstances, identity, and awakening of subjectivity among East Asian women—particularly Chinese women—who migrate to major overseas cities. While leaving familiar environments in pursuit of new possibilities, including economic opportunities, family life, and personal growth, they often encounter gendered structural constraints. The artist is herself part of this condition and appears as one of the subjects.

To date, all participants in the project are Chinese women born between 1960 and 2000, currently living in New York. Each participant represents specific themes, including family of origin, identity and career anxiety, marriage, intimacy, and reproductive pressure, as well as gender identity, feminist awakening, and cultural belonging.

The project combines staged photography with metaphorical visual elements. Each participant is invited into the studio for a portrait session preceded by in-depth conversations, which are later incorporated as oral histories in the accompanying photobook. In addition to portraits, Joy Island photographs close-ups of body parts—most often hands. Pink is deliberately used as the unified background color to examine its stereotypical association with femininity. Participants are also invited to select a fruit that represents themselves, which appears in the image. Like pink, fruit is frequently linked to women in literature, film, and everyday language, where women are often compared to juicy, sensual fruits. These metaphors subtly reveal social discipline and the influence of the male gaze.

The series is collected in a photobook of the same title and has been exhibited at Cambridge Photography Gallery in the UK, Chateau Gallery and SVA Gramercy Gallery in New York, Photofairs Shanghai， and the Chania International Photo Festival in Chania, Greece.

受女性学者上千鹤子“女性不是一个性别，而是一种处境”的观点启发，欢岛的作品“粉色幻想”探讨了东亚女性，尤其是中国女性，迁徙至海外大城市的性别处境，身份及主体性觉醒等议题。尽管她们离开熟悉的环境去追寻新的可能性，包括经济机会、家庭及个人成长等，她们常面临与性别相关的结构性困境。艺术家也是其中一员，因此她自己也是拍摄对象之一。

截至目前，欢岛的拍摄对象都是中国女性，她们均出生于1960至2000年间，目前生活在纽约。每位参与者代表了特定主题，例如原生家庭、身份与职业焦虑、婚姻、亲密关系及生育焦虑等；此外，也探讨了性别认同、女性觉醒和文化归属感等议题。

该项目结合了布景摄影与隐喻性的视觉元素。欢岛邀请每位被摄者来到影棚，并在拍摄前进行深入对话，相关内容以口述史形式收录于同名摄影书中。除了肖像，她也拍摄了局部身体特写，大多为手部。在本项目中，她有意以粉色为统一背景色，以探讨其对女性主体的刻板化影响。另外，她还邀请参与者选择一种能代表她们自身的水果，并将其呈现在画面里。与粉色类似，水果常与女性联系在一起：在文学、电影及日常话语中，女性常被比作多汁、感性的水果。这些隐喻也暗含社会规训与男性凝视的影响。

目前，该系列作品收录于同名摄影书，并于英国剑桥摄影画廊、纽约Chateau画廊、纽约视觉艺术学院SVA Gramercy Gallery画廊、影像上海艺术博览会及希腊Chania国际摄影节展出。

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