Artwork Appreciation
Since the 1990s, CHOU Ching-Hui has been using photography to capture special groups of people living in the modern society. Animal Farm: Bodily Existence Frame Series I is a series of photographic works that exhibit surreal and theatrical scenes. A pair of men and women appear like animals in a zoo, living in display cases with arched viewing frames as they go about their stretching exercises as though nobody’s around, with rooms decorated with posters showing extremely fit models that represent their desired body shape. This setting reflects how people’s values are controlled by the consumerist society as well as the gradual loss of self. CHOU Ching-Hui used these images to depict a modern dystopia with strong contradictions, reflecting the absurdity, awkwardness of urban life and mental states that viewers can reflect upon.