Art Director & Creative Designer
Performance + Installation
The Closet: Father & I
The Closet: Father & I explores my relationship with my father and the tension between the patriarchal model of masculinity I grew up with and my own naturally feminine gender expression. Within a traditional Chinese family structure, I learned to navigate expectations of masculinity, obedience and filial duty while suppressing parts of myself that did not conform to what a son was expected to be. As I struggled internally with my gender expression and sexuality, I became increasingly unable to communicate with my father, and the emotional distance between us gradually widened. The work reflects on this conflict between attachment and resistance, and on how patriarchal expectations can shape both queer self-perception and intimacy within the family.
In the performance, footprints gradually recede across lengths of bandage, representing the growing distance between my father and me as a result of silence, repression and unresolved inner conflict. As the bandages accumulate around a cubic frame, they form a metaphorical closet: an invisible enclosure constructed from familial expectations, patriarchal control and the parts of myself I felt unable to reveal. The work considers how coming out can mean not only revealing one’s sexuality, but also confronting the fear of disappointing a parent and breaking away from an inherited idea of what a son is supposed to be.
Director & Creative: Jiqiang(Johnny) Wen
Performer: Jiqiang(Johnny) Wen
Cinematographer: Thomas James Gilbert
Shooting Assistant: Pietro Ansaldi