Kelly Tsai "Lady Qiguan"
from $68.95
Follow Kelly Tsai on Instagram @kellytsai_nyc
SKyGiRLS is a constructed persona portrait series exploring intriguing women of the Chinese diaspora.
The goal of the project is neither to highlight heroes nor historical figures, but to embody and reinterpret complicated Chinese women who never fit easily into categorization, expectation, or known precedents.
The inspiration for this series came during the pandemic (during the height of anti-Asian violence) to seek how unique women of Chinese descent navigated worlds that held no space for their autonomous selves. By researching these women and recreating them, I found a healing environment to explore my own identity in the face of bigotry.
The cardboard frames are a stage curtain for viewers to see each portrait as subjective performance, not authoritative documentation. The “DIY / dollar store couture” aesthetic is inspired by pandemic resource restrictions and the makeshift nature of identity. The diptychs show the subject’s public self (portrait) and her hidden self (body shot with “found poem” - a direct quote from her or those close to her).
LADY QIGUAN: Wife of philosopher Confucius (551-479 BCE), married young but later divorced. Confucian philosophy is based on “harmonious family,” but he left his wife and family to travel China as a warlord adviser. Little is known about Lady Qiguan, but she knew the man behind the (unmet) ideals influencing 1000’s of years of Chinese culture.
This image is available for the following products: Framed Prints, and Giclee Fine Art Prints
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Follow Kelly Tsai on Instagram @kellytsai_nyc
SKyGiRLS is a constructed persona portrait series exploring intriguing women of the Chinese diaspora.
The goal of the project is neither to highlight heroes nor historical figures, but to embody and reinterpret complicated Chinese women who never fit easily into categorization, expectation, or known precedents.
The inspiration for this series came during the pandemic (during the height of anti-Asian violence) to seek how unique women of Chinese descent navigated worlds that held no space for their autonomous selves. By researching these women and recreating them, I found a healing environment to explore my own identity in the face of bigotry.
The cardboard frames are a stage curtain for viewers to see each portrait as subjective performance, not authoritative documentation. The “DIY / dollar store couture” aesthetic is inspired by pandemic resource restrictions and the makeshift nature of identity. The diptychs show the subject’s public self (portrait) and her hidden self (body shot with “found poem” - a direct quote from her or those close to her).
LADY QIGUAN: Wife of philosopher Confucius (551-479 BCE), married young but later divorced. Confucian philosophy is based on “harmonious family,” but he left his wife and family to travel China as a warlord adviser. Little is known about Lady Qiguan, but she knew the man behind the (unmet) ideals influencing 1000’s of years of Chinese culture.
This image is available for the following products: Framed Prints, and Giclee Fine Art Prints
Follow Kelly Tsai on Instagram @kellytsai_nyc
SKyGiRLS is a constructed persona portrait series exploring intriguing women of the Chinese diaspora.
The goal of the project is neither to highlight heroes nor historical figures, but to embody and reinterpret complicated Chinese women who never fit easily into categorization, expectation, or known precedents.
The inspiration for this series came during the pandemic (during the height of anti-Asian violence) to seek how unique women of Chinese descent navigated worlds that held no space for their autonomous selves. By researching these women and recreating them, I found a healing environment to explore my own identity in the face of bigotry.
The cardboard frames are a stage curtain for viewers to see each portrait as subjective performance, not authoritative documentation. The “DIY / dollar store couture” aesthetic is inspired by pandemic resource restrictions and the makeshift nature of identity. The diptychs show the subject’s public self (portrait) and her hidden self (body shot with “found poem” - a direct quote from her or those close to her).
LADY QIGUAN: Wife of philosopher Confucius (551-479 BCE), married young but later divorced. Confucian philosophy is based on “harmonious family,” but he left his wife and family to travel China as a warlord adviser. Little is known about Lady Qiguan, but she knew the man behind the (unmet) ideals influencing 1000’s of years of Chinese culture.
This image is available for the following products: Framed Prints, and Giclee Fine Art Prints