Qinxuan Zhao,

Jewellery Designer & Art Educator

Transformation

‘There has been a "narrative turn" in social research, where people look more closely at how people understand them’.

(Meryl Diaz and Benjamin Shepard, 2019).

As an art teacher and freelance jewellery designer, I am fascinated by storytelling as a starting point for creating work. When I was a child in China, my inspiration for drawing originated from bedtime stories. Among them was a traditional love story called ‘Butterfly Lovers’. At that time, I was only concerned about the butterfly mentioned in the tale, which was seen as a lovely and romantic art form. When I grew up, I learned that the love story ended in tragedy.

During my undergraduate degree I gained a new perspective, informed by feminism. I understood that in these stories women were restrained by men and denied education. The heroine of ‘Butterfly Lovers’ disguises herself as a man in order to study, but this comes with compromises. As in many fairy tales she needs to abandon her human form to have agency.  Not a good prospect for a happy life, however pretty it might seem.

Beginning with the typical lovely and delicate shape of butterflies, I want to explore a more grounded and profound form of freedom through art education. The pieces depict the released silkworm pupae, free-flying butterflies, and an undisguised female body. On a deeper level, this is a hope that through art education comes transformation.