YiYi received her master degree in photography in 2004 from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University in the United States. She possesses a thorough understanding of the history of photography as well as the feminist theory, as is reflected in her photographic self-portraits, her choice of titles, styles, and contents, as well as her statement on art. These, taken together,
expressed a significant amount of critical and satirical sentiments that are associated with feminism.
In taking these self-portraits, YiYi applied the pinhole camera. This decision is bold and wise. Her use of the pinhole camera differs from that of the tradition, which has served as a tool of peeping. Here, the images of the female figures are rendered vague and blurry due to shortened exposure time. This created an effect of uncertainty. The blurry images of female bodies also prevent men from focusing his desires on usually well defined and clear images. This uncommon expression found in her self-portraits, where the photo images seem to oscillate between the visible and the invisible, poses, in some sense, a direct confrontation on male’s sexually charged gaze, which often peeks from behind the pinhole.
In YiYi’s work, we can notice an apparent connection to the European tradition of using costumed female in self-portraits. Particularly evident is the influence of Francesca Woodman (1958-1981). The resemblances can be seen in their choices of subject-matters, which normally include: obscured and unsettled expressions and bodily images, elegantly arranged feminine dresses and backgrounds, and the displays of objects that are filled with symbolic meanings, such as flowers and fruits, etc. One of YiYi’s works, entitled “Womanliness as a Masquerade?”, reminds us of the influential female psychoanalyst Joan Riviere’s writing in feminist theory, “Womanliness as a Masquerade” (1929). The most noticeable and exaggerated characteristic in YiYi’s work lies in her employment of Woodman-like subject-matter to create a theatrical stage, in which she used exaggerated and satirical costumes, backdrops, as well as various gestures through glances, bodily expressions and performances, to critique the male possessiveness over femininity. Taken together, her mocking of femininity, and her intentional usage of pin-hole camera with an embedded inversion of connotation, has successfully undermined the traditional idea that femininity is at the service of men.
In addition to critiquing on traditional male gaze of female body, YiYi’s work also discloses a way of thinking related to the concept of “Auto-Erotic” (see her exhibition title). In her written statement, YiYi stated that her work is implicitly an exploration on “how a woman in an oppressed society, facing the fears of public criticism, can achieve her own self-liberation.” The fact that she adopted Woodman-like subject-matters and used blurry female images and feminine costumes clearly implies the presence of a mask that stands for social oppression and public opinions. On the other hand, the backdrops objects used in her photos, such as cantaloupe and rose, reveal, without any doubt, the feminine sexual desires. Sustaining such tension between oppression and liberation, YiYi bypasses the male-gaze and associated social restrictions, and successfully opens a possibility for independent-minded women to fashion her own presence.
