Si Chen

Unknown Fairy Tale

Unknown Fairy Tale is a series of works related to child sexual abuse and based on the author's actual memories. There are four pieces in the series, and they unfold in time, from "wounded", " ferment", "struggle", to "healing". Each piece can be worn, and several pieces incorporate the nature of performance art and invite the audience to participate. In addition to the direct visual impact, the viewer is given space to think. Besides, many second-hand children's items (clothes, toys, jewellery, etc.) are used to create a tactile and visual emotional connection with the audience. As narrative wearables, Unknown Fairy Tale uses body language and material language in combination with different artistic techniques to create its narrative context and to write to the audience about a real-life journey after a traumatic experience.

“ In the illustration 'wounded', I have taken the rabbit's ear, which suggests female genitalia, and the girl's movement spreading her legs, with the 'strange hand' and the blood. In this work, I wanted to abstract the process of being violated and present it metaphorically and nakedly to the viewer. I, therefore, chose second-hand children's objects as an emotional link between the work and the viewer. I collected second-hand children's style pumpkin trousers, bunny doll ears and beads as the primary materials. In this work, the process of sexual assault is done to invite the viewer to participate. The viewer is asked to drag the chain connecting the crotch of the trousers to the rabbit's ears, and the device in the trousers is activated by the dragging of the chain, spilling blood on the crotch. In this process, I try to use the audience's hands to evoke their childhood memories of the rabbit's ears and actively place them in the position of the sexual predator through the visual experience of the 'blood' dip. From "participant", "viewer", and "victim", I expect the three to form a closed loop in terms of conceptual expression and to present the complete landscape of this phenomenon.”