Paradise of Beings

Jiayi Chen

Photography

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“As a feminist and queer photographer, my work is a reflection of my lived experiences as a member of these communities. I use my art to challenge societal norms and expectations surrounding gender, sexuality, and identity.

Through my photographs, I aim to amplify the voices and stories of marginalized individuals, particularly those who identify as LGBTQIA+ and/or BIPOC. I am committed to creating images that are both beautiful and thought-provoking, and that ultimately inspire viewers to question their own assumptions and biases. I believe that art has the power to spark social change, and I am proud to use my photography as a tool for activism. Whether it's through documenting protests, capturing intimate moments between queer couples, or exploring the nuances of gender expression, my work seeks to push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable in mainstream society. Through my use of colour, texture, and composition, I aim to create a sense of depth and softness in my photography of local beings I hope that my work can transport viewers to a place of wonder and contemplation.”

Website: Jiayi Chen
Instagram: @overelated
De Flore: Nushu: Written for her, on her, by her

“I just jumped into a forest and met a group of goats. They did not get scared of me and treated me equally as one of them. Every creature is born to be equal and respectful. There was a big family. This little one just bleated for mom. They fed themselves and had a rest in this forest. We all are as tiny as ants ,yet live up to be glorious and giant as true gods. And I was just there, staring at them and imagining that this is my truly spiritual hometown.”

Jiayi Chen

I am Jiayi Chen, an emerging contemporary artist at early stage who graduated from master of contemporary art practice from Edinburgh college of art in last year.

With eight years of experience in self-taught photography and a passion for recreating eternity in the still moments, I am confident in my ability to get involved with this award. In my recent art practice in Scotland, I have honed my skills in presenting an overall sentiment of my magnified daily reality in my community and surrounding environment and its ‘softness’ as well as ‘memories’ through my art which has the end of words but not to the message and is worth the most profound appreciation.

Another part of my work is related to nushu, an exclusive language for women only in the world.

During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a coin was discovered with some characters that people couldn’t understand. Later they discovered that it was actually the language for women. It was sewn inside women’s clothes and could only be written by women. I think it’s very meaningful for both women and the world. I want it to be seen by more people. It is the only language in the world that was invented by and for women. Later I invited my friends to be the models so I could write nushu on her and take pictures of her. I also write nushu on the windows in my studio. I kept writing the single character “woman”. At first, I couldn’t control the amount of ink well so the ink kept falling down. It looked like tears dropping down, like, women were crying. Nushu is also known as the calligraphy of tears so now the whole window is full of women’s tears.