Aodan is a fantastic artist currently exhibiting with Awakenings in Bloom, and she is a deeply thoughtful creative. Within her sculptures collectively entitled Hurting Spring, Aodan brings layers of meaning to work made simultaneously delicate and fierce. Her series of floral porcelain objects all display prominent thorns and sharp edges.
I was grateful to speak with Aodan over email to learn of her thoughts behind Hurting Spring as well as her wider body of work, all interconnected to a deep consideration of the meaning of femininity and the ways it is displayed, taught, and considered in the world around her.
Interview with Aodan
Megan Otto
Can you share how you would like to introduce yourself?
Aodan
I usually describe myself as an escapist, a tear catcher, and a black hole. Sometimes when it comes to art, I’d rather call myself an art-sharman than an artist.
Megan Otto
You’ve said that the theme of femininity comes up often in your work. Can you tell me a bit more about the different ways you’ve expressed femininity in different pieces of art?
Aodan
I’ve been striving to explore and redefine “femininity,” which to me is not solely related to loving/gentle/soft/maternal/weak/graceful, etc. I want to bring out the aggressiveness, danger, ruthlessness, destructiveness and danger along with all the elements above, so I constantly combine attack-oriented items with more “traditional” images related to femininity. These “heretic” items could be the thorns that bring the sense of pain, a blade that can draw blood, or just simply a pair of handcuffs that restrict.
Megan Otto
How is Hurting Spring similar to or different from other work you’ve done in the past? What inspired you to make this piece, and do you feel you learned anything from the process?
Aodan
Hurting Spring is similar to almost all my previous works since they are all “redefining femininity” themed. The difference is the materiality. I was so intrigued by the unique quality of porcelain and hyped to see it was a perfect match with the theme I was dwelling into: it’s extremely vulnerable and delicate while still hard and strong; it could break into pieces easily but cuts deeply when shattered. I think this mixture of delicacy and violence truly inspired me as I was experimenting on unveiling the real “femininity”.
Megan Otto
The concept of the exhibit Bloom includes ideas of how sex education and sexuality impact survivors. Do you feel that your own experience with sex education was a part of the process of creating Hurting Spring?
Aodan
Absolutely. I grew up in a culture that a woman’s so-called virginity, pureness, and wholeness are even much more treasured than their own lives and beings. So many of us were taught “rather die as jade shattered than tiles intact”, in another word, “rather be dead than raped”. Outside of women being objectified, it also reveals another question that concerns me a lot: are we really completely frail and doomed to be “victimized?” Are we really weak like we were told? Or, even if we “die,” do we really just simply avoid the fate of being raped, not fighting back? Do the assailants really get away with all their crimes unharmed? I wish the answer was NO. We should be taught that we are not “fragile jades” holding onto our wholeness; the assailants should be taught that they are facing the danger laying hands on women when they do not wish to be touched.
Megan Otto
I love the use of flowers in Hurting Spring. Why did you choose flowers to be such a prominent image in this piece, and what do you think they help you express in your art?
Aodan
I think this is almost a subconscious decision. When I think about it, I find out it traced back to a tradition of likening females to flowers in Chinese culture, and I believe we are not alone on this. Therefore, to me a flower is more like an incarnation of female or femininity. (A flower can be thorny and poisonous as well!)
Megan Otto
What is next for you? are there any projects upcoming or that you’re working on at the moment?
Aodan
I am pretty positive that I will go on my exploration on “femininity.” As I am fascinated by ceramics and porcelain making, I am working on a whole series of BDSM objects which are strongly bound to power dynamics, gender, and sexuality. Of course I am also working on other small sized sculptures that are still under the roof of femininity.
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Aodan (born. Hohhot, China) is a visual artist who is more willing to call herself an “escapist” and “art sharman.” She graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor degree in visual arts, and School of Art Institute of Chicago with a Master degree in fashion, body, and garment. Her works have been exhibited in multiple shows in the USA and included in magazines from Turkey, United Kingdom, and Spain.
Aodan’s body of work delves into the complicated tableaux with aggressiveness, gentleness, fragility, softness, toughness, struggles, emotions, and pain within femininity and female gender in delicate and cryptic looks. She digs into the neglected, unorthodox, forgotten and hidden parts in “Yin” out of love, desire and fear.
View Hurting Spring and the rest of the Bloom exhibit here: https://awakeningsart.org/bloom/