IV. The Repositioning of Practice

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Perhaps I cannot provide a definitive answer to the question of the right to look, nor can I fully deconstruct power, since I am inherently part of it. The generation of space and the pathways of viewing form a continuous, flowing relationship between myself and the audience.

 

For a long time, I, methodical and meticulous, pursued “clear expression” and “formal completeness.” Through absorbing academic knowledge and engaging in self-reflection, I gradually realized that this clarity itself is a form of institutionalized aesthetics—it emphasizes refinement and completeness while neglecting the ambiguous and the unspeakable. My practice has developed in opposition to this cultural logic. I no longer seek total control; instead, I treat “incompleteness” as a new source of creativity. This shift was not easily achieved—it came with ongoing anxiety and self-criticism. Especially when confronting audiences, markets, or academic evaluation systems, I still navigate these power structures, perhaps only finding balance after years of practice.

 

As Barthes suggests in The Death of the Author, “meaning is generated in the reader.” I have come to understand that the artist’s role is not to control, but to provide possibilities for generation.

 

At the conclusion of this exploration, I hope my work can exist in an unfinished state—neither completely open nor fully closed—capable of producing further change and possibilities in the future. Like memory, it continuously fragments and reorganizes, always in flux. My artistic inquiry, I believe, will never reach a definitive endpoint.

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​Reference:

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Barthes, R. (1967) The Death of the Author. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.