Mengying Tian (b. 1994) was born in Beijing China.
Her work explores perceptions of body hair and gender identity for women.
Mengying Tian
How we perceive our bodies can be deeply influenced by how our bodies are described and evaluated by others.
Fashion advertising, the porn industry, the male gaze and the prevailing aesthetics of society have shaped our imagination of the perfect body over time . From female nudes in classical oil paintings to airbrushed models in fashion advertisements, the bodies of women are often portrayed as smooth and hairless.
In such a social system, body hair seems to be defined as a sign of masculinity. And when a woman's hair grows in an area that is considered masculine by society (such as the chin or upper lip), they may be considered to be out of line with gender expectations. This social climate can make exposing one's body hair, or emphasizing it, like a provocation. Eliminating hair, as many people do, becomes the safest option to conform.
In my work, I explore the invisibility of women's body hair in the social context I live in. Through emphasizing the body hair on women's bodies I aim to challenge the ways that patriarchal societies seek to change and repress women’s bodies.
her body I
“…bodies are not ‘born’ (do not exist as ‘natural’ ‘underneath’ culture), but are created as meaning, including gender.”
—Donna J. Haraway
“In her body, I” I explore the invisibility of female body hair in the context of a patriarchal society. I want people to see the hidden realities of women's body hair through my work, and so I have laboriously re-traced every hair I observed in this body portrait to emphasise the presence and patterns of hair growth.
Medium:
Digital Print on PaperSize:
110x76cm
Her body II (black)
Her body II (pink)
Her body II (blue)
Her body II (white)
In the long history of female body hair removal, the more skin that is exposed the more body hair they have to remove. But does body hair not exist when it is covered by clothes or shaved off? “In her body, II”, I attempts to represent the restricted female body through body hair.
Medium:
Screenprint on paperSize:
56x76cm
Our hair, especially women's hair, is divided into different categories. The hair on the top of the head, eyebrows, eyelashes, which are defined as hair that can reflect femininity, need to be loved and seen. We want him to be thick and shiny. But other hair on the body like armpit hair, pubic hair, and leg hair should preferably be sparse, short, or even preferably none at all. But essentially, all the hair on our body is made up of the same elements. In “hair”, I used pantyhose and human hair as materials, sewing my hair on fabric to mimic leg hair.This work continues my exploration of the invisibility of body hair and the repressed female body, and the underlying class nature of body hair in “the body”series.
Medium:
panty-hose, human hairSize:
Variable size
I'm particularly interested in the things people lost on the streets, and as I keep coming across gloves that had fallen to the ground, I start documenting and collecting these photos. What I am interested in in this work is that the gloves have obvious human characteristics, and we may have associations about the meaning of these hand gestures, but the gestures they present are actually meaningless.