The use of photography & video (presented on a retro TV) creates a sense of nostalgia and truth which connects to the context of the work’s documentation of Beijing East Village’s history. It allows the viewer to look at the recorded happenings in different ways/ from another perspective due to the strong captured expressions and placement of what the people in these pictures are performing.

The work is placed at a setting which allows the viewer to circulate around the photographs freely, hypothetically ending with a video installation which allows the spectator to experience the story in a 360 degree approach; therefore making us engulfed in the artists’ created world in this setting.

The framing of putting these photographs in frames make viewers even more cognisant of how we are living in different times to what is presented, making the viewers reflect more on how fortunate they are currently compared to the stories of people presented in these photos where they are not given the freedom to act and express themselves as desired.

The gaze might influence the work if the viewer is from a different culture as the content is deeply focused on showing a protest towards the happenings in Beijing East Village. The idea of gender & identity is more “taboo” and a topic that’s usually avoided in China which creates another sense of significancy for gazes of the same culture, while people in other cultures might perceive the work with a sympathetic eye or a sense of understanding new cultures.

There could be a total of 6 gazes in this work. Gazes from the those from the same cultural background and those indifferent to it. Gazes from people who has similar gender expression difficulties with those who doesn’t, and lastly gazes of people of the same culture looking at those who are not, and people experiencing the same difficulties looking at those without the same issue.

The notion of the gaze intersects with the principle of visual analysis such as its content due to the strong portrayal of the artists’ activist behaviour towards the depicted event. It could also affect the form of this exhibit as viewers could view the series of photographs and video from different directions due to the boxed setting.

My identity as an Asian shapes my gaze as it allows me to look at people who are not of the same culture looking at these photographs. It made me think what those people may interpret due to its strong and emotional portrayed expressions, and whether they understand why the artists chose to use such strong and possibly triggering visual performances within the medium to present their ideas, since they might not have the context of Chinese politics & beliefs.

I may “see” the last video installation differently using my gaze as someone of the same culture as I understand more why these artists chose to use themselves as a medium in the video as a way to express their frustrations, and to why they chose to perform that way as to me, it seems like an imitation of an event which happened in the past in China which only people of the same culture would immediately associate to; showing how limited and “jailed” they are to express themselves freely. It makes me relate previous context to the understanding of how there are consequences for people who wishes to “voice” out their opinions due to cultural constraints, resulting to a performance and video recording with silence.