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YRAC member, artist Yafang Shi’s “Red Onion” is currently being exhibited at the 27th Annual International Women’s Day Art Show at the Orillia Museum of Art & History.
Yafang presents “Red Onion”, an artwork of photography paired with a poem, to interpret the theme of the show this year: Beyond the Surface.
Yafang’s artwork and poem speak to the issues of her local public library’s censoring and erasing of feminist works carrying critical voices.
Particularly, she presents her social critique on the library’s public policy and practice centering on viewers’ “pleasure and enjoyment” rather than encouraging artworks carrying critical voices of people from marginalized positions.
“i am not for your pleasure and enjoyment/i am a truth revealer/I am a feminist killjoy,” Yafang states in her poem “Red Onion.”
Yafang pays tribute to the concept of “feminist killjoy” developed by Sara Ahmed, an independent feminist scholar and writer.
Through this artwork and poem, Yafang intends to raise the public’s awareness of public institutions’ exclusionary public art policies and practices and advocate welcoming policies and practices that embrace critical voices crying for a just society.
Although Yafang is currently out of town, she participated in Women’s Forum for participating artists through a pre-recorded talk on her artwork and poem on June 23.
The exhibition will run until July 20. The details of the exhibition: https://www.orilliamuseum.org/project/27th-annual-womens-day-international-art-show/
