Yunlei Yang

Projected image on the wall through the knot installation

Yunlei Yang, born in 2000, is a Chinese photographic artist who studied photography during her undergraduate years and continued her education at the Royal College of Art. She specialises in interdisciplinary work and is passionate about exploring different artistic techniques.

Her research centres on psychology and sociology, delving into the complexities of human behaviour. Adopting a perceptive approach, she investigates the underlying causes of behaviours and employs a "micro to macro" perspective. By using personal or everyday psychological behaviours, she explores broader social phenomena. Her artistic pursuits span diverse mediums, including photography, installations, collages, and performances.

In my childhood, with my mother's early departures and late returns and my father's frequent absences due to work, I spent much time alone. Stuffed animals and a specific T-shirt became my transitional objects.

As I grew up, I tore the T-shirt into strips, tied knots, and held them, feeling relaxation in this behaviour. I still do it today.

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"Transitional Object" is a multimedia artwork that combines video and installation.

It portrays the transitional object as a result of psychological perception shaped by the social environment.
Through a mutually influential relationship between video and installation, it aims to explore the influence of the social environment on psychological perception.

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As young children transition away from relying on their mothers, they experience a loss of stable companionship and a sense of security within their social environment. Consequently, the product of their emotional attachment, known as the transitional object, emerges.

This object, often a physical item, takes the place of the mother-child bond and becomes a source of emotional solace for young children.

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My artwork's large installation projects my transitional object and integrates various researched forms of transitional objects. By tearing different fabrics and tying knots, I aim to simulate forming a real transitional object authentically.

This phenomenon can also occur in other stages of life, producing visible or invisible products. Donald Woods Winnicott related the concept of transitional objects to a more general one. With "transition", Winnicott means an intermediate developmental phase between the psychic and external reality.

In this "transitional space", we can find the "transitional object".

Video in projection

The video captures 'traces' found in various aspects of life, including the natural and social environments, as well as the subconscious habitual thinking of individuals.

It follows a sequence from the outside to the inside, from the natural environment to the artificial indoor setting, and from external reality to psychic reality.