Harper
Zhu
Canvas, wood, moss, sticky note, dimensions variable.
Digital printing photographs taken on location in the forest.
Courtesy the artist.
Canvas, wood, moss, sticky note, dimensions variable.
Digital printing photographs taken on location in the forest.
Courtesy the artist.
Digital printing photographs taken on location in the forest. Courtesy the artist.
Translation:
“He had long hair, he must be gay”
“She’s so bad, she didn’t even dress up”
“You can’t dream when you grow up”
“No one will want you when you’re over 30”
“You’re not fresh graduates so you are not so worthful”
“You’re not strong enough so you have depression”
Canvas, wood, moss, sticky note, dimensions variable.
Digital printing photographs taken on location in the forest.
Courtesy the artist.
Translation:
“It’s all for the money”
“A guy who do makeup is not a man”
“He had long hair, he must be gay”
“She’s so bad, she didn’t even dress up”
“You can’t dream when you grow up”
“No one will want you when you’re over 30”
“You’re not fresh graduates so you are not so worthful”
“You know nothing because you’re too young”
Translation:
“You’re not strong enough so you have depression”
“You even don’t have a dream”
Canvas, wood, moss, sticky note, dimensions variable.
Digital printing photographs taken on location in the forest.
Courtesy the artist.
Translation:
“You’re too introverted”
“You’re a girl you can’t leave home too far away”
“A girl should look like a girl”
“Fat people are lazy and greedy”
About
The concept of moss is growing on my spirit came to mind during a half month of continuous rain. The anxiety caused by the outside world were sprinkled on my spirit like moss spores. After the nourishment of rain, the moss began to spread over my spirit. For this work, I find people aged 20 to 25 who were also in a bad mood from the Internet and took a series of portraits for each of them. After several talking, I found that their worries were similar. They are affected by too many external voices, but they have not clear their own needs. Society has standardized answers of what it means to be a man, a woman, and over20, and these often become things that weigh on us. Therefore, in the final exhibition, I moved the pictures to the forest on a rainy day. Except for the moss, I also glued sticky notes written with sentences about bias on the surface. Then I recorded the process of the notes being blown away until none left. If “standards” are the moss attached to the spirit, wish everyone has the courage to tear off the labels and follow hearts.
Bio
Harper Zhu was born in 2000 and is based in Hangzhou, China. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the University of Sydney.