Isabelle Bianca Virrey
About
‘Painted Yellow’ can be summarised in three words - fetishism, colonial mentality and orientalism.
The film reveals the modern power dynamic between a Filipino woman and a white male and how it parallels back to colonialism. The white male gaze does not differ from the early settler’s description of the Asian women. Painted Yellow also questions the generational chain of colonial mentality and how it impacts our intimate relationships and self-perception due to the lack of national identity.
The film is divided into three parts, entree, dinner and dessert. The food and table props acts as a metaphor and an allegory of the conditions of the Oriental women (past and present) when facing a white man. Shifting from one colour and costume to another throughout the film reflects how the Oriental woman adapts to change and her internal world. Entree uncovers the early settler’s first impression of Filipino women as coy and a subject of the male’s fascination. Dinner is an allegory of the American service men’s sexual acts and abuse they’ve done to Filipino women and Mail Order Brides. Dessert reveals the outcome of colonisation, the consequence of fetishism and orientalism.
Bio
Isabelle Bianca Virrey is a photographer and graphic designer practising in screen arts. Proudly born and raised in Western Sydney of Australia. Virrey is a synaesthetic artist who often uses music and colours as the main descriptors of her crafts and feelings. Many of her artworks represent her inner values, thoughts, and commentary about human connection and intimacy. Virrey has a great interest in philosophy and psychology. Evidently shown through her consistent use of themes of vulnerability, anxious attachment styles, identity, mortality, and presence in her artworks. As she believes everything in this world is ever-changing and that we face multiple inner identities in our lifetime. Virrey truly values the strength and power words hold; hence, her passion in using text in the majority of her artworks. Through her words and visual cues, she aims to have the audience find comfort and spark conversations about existence and relationships. She is currently doing her honours in Screen arts in SCA.