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Contemporary Art Practice (MA)

Jiayun Fan

TV screen

Jiayun Fan 范佳韵 (b.1997, China) is a multidisciplinary artist who critically reflects and intervenes in society through her creations. With a focus on gender identity, family, and nature, Jiayun uses her acute attention to detail to expose power dynamics in structures. She creates art as a means of self-healing while connecting with others. Her personal experiences and inner perceptions serve as a primary source of inspiration, resulting in artwork that is an authentic expression of her feelings. In her works, she reflects on personal struggles in order to shed light on the relationship between the self and society, and to explore the connections between personal troubles and public issues.


[Education]

MA Contemporary art practice, Royal College of Art, London

BFA Public Art, Nanjing University of the Arts, China


[Solo Exhibition]

Sti9ma, Nature Art Space, Chongqing, 2021


[Selected Previous Exhibitions and Events]

CAP x Tate Modern Lates, Tate Modern, London, 2023

Eucalyptus’ Talk, Willesden Gallery, London, 2023

Information Cocoons, Tx Youth Energy Center, Shanghai, 2022

K11 Art Fair, K11 Art Mall, Shanghai, 2021

UNFOLD Shanghai Art Book Fair, 50 Moganshan Road, Shanghai, 2021

International Residence Image Festival, Jiuzhou Airport, Huangping, 2021

Artist's face

Recently, my research has focused on exploring the labour relationship between the female body and fabric from a feminist perspective, to present a gentle critique of power structures. Our bodies seem to be forcefully inscribed by society, and the repetitive performative acts we engage in daily perpetually place us within predetermined social frameworks.

In addition, I practice the theory of Écriture féminine through photography, painting, and writing. I seek to disrupt the power systems and norms constructed behind language by incorporating personal experiences, intuition, and abiogenesis into my work.

 
Demo
The fabric is printed with colour
The video is projected onto the fabric

We find it difficult to escape from the predetermined social identities, as the power structures we contribute continue to reproduce in a cyclical manner as if everything is on an automatic loop.

From the moment of our birth, we are bound by the established power relations of society, and our bodies are forcibly made to repeatedly perform those predetermined roles.


The artist seeks to create an illusionary room where all colours are heated repeatedly by an iron, and labour imagery continuously loops. It is as if a genuine character hides within the artwork, constantly engaging in a labour relationship with the fabric through their body.

In Collaboration with:

Medium:

Video, print on fabric and mixed materials

Size:

200 x 200 x 230cm; 5'15"
feminismgender-politicslabourpower-dynamicsreproducesystems-of-power
one page of teaser publication for this project, including two drawings and a poem
In the winter of 2022, I embarked on an extraordinary journey by attending the event 'finding witches' in Lancashire. As fate would have it, a profound transformation occurred, endowing me to have the ability to perceive the trees and dialogue with them.

The artist masterfully blends the grotesque with elements of chaos to open a gap in the real world with nature and spirituality, she seeks to dismantle the artificial boundaries erected by our society. The interconnectedness of all living beings intertwines, urging us to reevaluate our place in the world and challenge the status quo.

Medium:

Publication (digital/ print on coated paper )

Size:

18 x 18cm; 32p
human-nature-relationshipnaturephotographypublicationspiritualitytrees
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Royal College of Art

Registered Office: Royal College of Art,
Kensington Gore, South Kensington,
London SW7 2EU