Ruohong Chen
About
Ruohong Chen, born in 1997, Chongqing, is a visual artist.
The "hong" in my original name is written as "泓" in Chinese characters. When I was seven or eight years old, I met an abbot during a visit to Mount Emei. He felt a connection with me and asked my mother what my name was. After my mother told him, he asked her if I often got sick, to which my mother replied affirmatively. He then said that there was too much "water" in my destiny, and since the character "泓" also means water, fortune would flow away. So, he helped me change it to "宏."
Statement
My art emerges from the intersection of personal observation and societal critique.
With a keen eye for the unnoticed details of everyday life, I use multi-media creation with a focus on visual design to shed light on the social issues that arise from these unexamined corners of our world. My work is not merely an exploration of the visible; it is a quest to make visible the questions, emotions, and thoughts that are often hidden in plain sight. Through my practice, I invite the audience to engage with the unacknowledged aspects of our world and to find new pathways towards understanding and change.
Internalised Confucianism
Internalised Confucianism
This project primarily explores the impacts of the internship system and Confucianism on the socialisation and identity of people in Chinese society. In China, the internship system is fundamentally rooted in the hierarchical structures of Confucian philosophy and is used as a widespread socialisation mechanism. Such a system often places ‘interns’ in a suppressed role, where in the behaviour and identity of young people are suppressed. This creates an unequal social relationship between the participants, where potential growth and development may be inhibited.