Michelle Ng Du
Fog, 2021
Acrylic on Wood

Feminism. The fight for equal rights between men and women. We like to believe that every year we get a little closer to achieving that goal, but with femicides in Latin America, acid burnings in India, and the overturning of abortion laws in Texas, it’s hard to feel that way. We live in a culture where women do not have ultimate control over their bodies; a culture where they are constantly commodified. We see this in ads where only parts of a woman are shown and in movies where women are constantly offered revealing clothing at the expense of believability. And we also see this in the unbelievable amount of women who face sexual assault. One out of every six American women have been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. And these are just the cases that have been reported. Our very existence is also used to justify these horrific behaviors. If you fit the beauty standard, you are asking for it. Your body is too beautiful to not be shared. If you don’t, you should feel lucky to be looked at. It is a riddle that cannot be solved. We are stripped again and again until there is only numbness.

I tried to express all of this in my piece by making the woman’s figure the main subject. I wanted to objectify her for the audience, while making sure that her gaze is the main focal point. The idea behind it is to express discomfort and detachment through her facial expression..