0.7% Salt (2009)

Overview

The female gender is always presumed to be the weaker one and thus crying is thought to be one of the natural attributes of women. Just like flirting and coyness, in many occasions crying is a way of admitting a vulnerable position by women in order to gain recognition within an androcratic system. When a woman fails to cry on an occasion as appropriate, she would often be seen as ‘cold’ or ‘shameless’ whereas if a man holds back his tears, it is deemed an act of strength. In this work, Jiang reduces the signification of women’s tears to a mere physical composite, challenging our habitual reference to its social signification. In this video, celebrity Gillian Chung performs the delicate emotional transition from gently smiling to breaking down in tears. The work demands viewers to forsake our presuppositions; while at the same time heightens our sense of appreciation for the pure visual aesthetics of an emotional transition.

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