Wenlan He

Various napkins with digital embroidery, screen printed motifs, letters and couched noodles.

I am a multi-disciplinary Chinese feminist artist creating work with subversive qualities and soft pushbacks which questions the yoke of gendered roles (especially for Chinese women). ‘男主外，女主内’ is a concept in Confucius teachings which stressed the value of segregation within the home, with the women staying in the inner part. This limitation supposedly helped to safeguard against the danger of the outer world and protects the purity of women.

my topic revolves around Chinese women and their relationship with domestic work, and it can be broken down into two aspects with the first being how instead of sharing responsibilities inside the home, most of (if not all) the house chores, including taking care of children is expected of a woman in marriage, however the amount of hardship they have to endure is under looked and they are taking for granted. Another aspect of was exploring how a woman, from the day she was born, is judged and scrutinised upon their qualities or potentials to be a ‘good’ wife.

On the left is a photo of my Grandma, on the right a family portrait of Grandma with her 5 children and my great-grandma.

In a way grandma is the perfect example of taking care of all things inside the home as grandpa was the breadwinner, working as an official in the Chinese army hence he was barely at home, and grandma had to look after five children whilehaving a part time job as a health care practitioner, she was very hardworking and capable of almost every possible home chore.

Inspiration comes from stories about grandma’s busy daily schedule, my mom told me when she was little grandma would wake up at 5 am to hand make buns for the whole family, then she would wash the bowls, go work part time at a drug store, she would come back and go straight to the kitchen to make lunch, clean up again and then make dinner and late-night snacks later on.

I wanted to emphasise this repetitive nature of domestic work in my banner using kitchen tools to spell out the words ‘Dinner After Dinner After Dinner’. I aim to show that it can be pretty unfair and overwhelming to take up all the house chores on your own, even more so when society overlooks your hard work.

Letter 'D' is a chopping board, and letter 'I' a metal spoon. All are digitally embroidered.

Letters 'N' and 'R' are chopsticks with noodle strands in between. 'A' letters are strainer spoons. 'F' and 'T' are roller pins and bent wooden spatulas. 'E' letters are chopping knives. All are digitally embroidered.

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Screen printing and digital embroidery

This photograph derives from a hypothetical scenario where a Chinese woman is so bored with cooking that she starts playing with noodles and spells the message ‘Dinner After Dinner After Dinner’ on her kitchen table.

I wanted my work to have a subversive quality where at first glance, you would think the textile looks pretty and decorative. However, after a close inspection, you may notice something slightly off. I used unwashed, piled-up bowls and messy stains as motifs for the background. I printed the message utilising a puff binder to create a raised organic effect.

Message spelt out using spoons and chopsticks. Motifs made up using unwashed piled-up bowls and messy stains as motifs for the background. The red imitates chilli oil stains, and the green wasabi or vegetable stains.

Couching noodle strands onto a used napkin.

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Screen printing and couching using noodle strands

Soy Sauce and Wasabi – Video of the artist opening soy sauce and wasabi sauce, somewhat drawing aggressively onto a napkin using these sauces with chopsticks and spoons, portraying a sense of frustration.

Your Average Chinese Housewife – The story portrays a typical housewife cooking noodles, but instead of serving them, she is naughtily picking up the noodle strands and stitching them onto a napkin.

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Video

Food for Good Wives

The message ‘Food for Good Wives’ is written on the cover of this Chinese takeaway box using soy sauce, but when you open it, it spells ‘No Time to Cook’. It challenges the concept of a ‘good wife’. Perhaps a good wife provides income for the family and has no time to cook, or a good wife is busy with other responsibilities besides cooking. Ultimately, it is a woman’s choice of how she handles her family, not for others to comment on.

The word 'Good' is hand embroidered on all sides of the takeaway box. Would doing all this hand embroidery work help me score points as a desirable 'good' wife?

I deliberately hand embroidered the words ‘No Time’ as an act of rebellion because I would rather spend hours and hours stitching words onto a takeaway sheet than be at home cooking for the whole family.

Food for lazy wives

In a different version of the takeaway box, I used bean curd sauce to spell the words ‘Food for Lazy Wives’ on the cover and ‘Failure as a Woman’ on the inside. The word ‘Lazy’ was hand embroidered on all sides of the box, intending to be subversive (too lazy to cook but has made an effort to stitch).

Failure as a women

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Hand embroidery on takeaway boxes

House Wife – The letters spelling the word 'House' comprise buildings similar to where my mom and I lived in China. It indicates that generations of Chinese women have faced similar gendered expectations. I also played with the contrast between the words 'Wife' and 'Maid'. For instance, mandarin ducks that make up the letter 'W' in 'Wife' symbolises the perfect loving and devoted relationship in Chinese culture. The letters 'IFE' are made of ribbons which tie two rings together, representing commitment in marriage.

House Maid – However, in reality, a woman often feels alone in marriage, taking care of every possible responsibility in the household (hence the letters are made up of rubbish such as squashed milk cartons and tangled hair). Furthermore, I embroidered a maid in costume cleaning, as irony to show how some people are looking for servants to take care of them in marriage.

I wanted to emphasise the ambiguity and duality of woman’s expectations in marriage by having ‘House Wife’ embroidered on one side of the bag and ‘House Maid’ on the other. I photographed my mom carrying a grocery bag to a Chinese supermarket to express how this concept is integrated into our daily lives.

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digital embroidery on jute bag

Wenlan He

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Royal College of Art