Xian Xia

Home, as the most crucial living space for humanity, not only accommodates our daily activities but also reflects personal life status and emotions. We spend most of our time here, accompanied by household items. The role of household items transcends their functional existence, becoming participants in our life narratives, weaving together the tiny memories of our lives. Through long-term coexistence between people and objects, a special emotional connection quietly forms, making household items more than just conventional items but rather each person’s aspirations for life, spiritual sustenance, carriers of memories, sources of emotional comfort, life quality and aesthetic pursuit.

As a student studying in London, I deeply appreciate the profound healing and emotional solace that household items provide to me in a foreign land. For the vast community of international students, the home they create by themselves in a cross-cultural living environment becomes a spiritual harbour to resist loneliness and seek belonging.

To explore the connection between people and objects in depth and record this subtle yet powerful emotional symbiosis between people and objects, I successfully interviewed and photographed eight international students in London, coincidentally, all from the University of the Arts London (UAL). With their trust and support, I was able to deeply visit their private spaces. Through in-depth communication with them, I learned about their respective life statuses, insightful perspectives on home decoration, and precious stories intertwined with specific items. Through the lens, I presented their profound emotional connections with objects and how these items played extraordinary roles in their lives.

This book is based on sincere dialogue and vivid stories, exploring the deep interaction and emotional connection between people and objects. I hope that through this book, readers can awaken their love and attention to home life, inspire them to explore their emotional connection with objects, and thus cherish and enjoy every beautiful moment in life more. At the same time, I hope to guide readers to re-examine their connection with the surrounding environment and their relationship with household items, discovering the beauty and emotional value in life. I believe that each item has its unique story and emotion, and our lives are composed of these beautiful memories and emotional connections.

Nowadays, environmental issues and gender problems are increasingly drawing people’s attention, and ecofeminism offers a fresh perspective on these two global issues. Ecofeminism argues that the degradation of the Earth and the exploitation of women are both related to patriarchy, where the overproduction and overpopulation reflect the subjugated and objectified status of women and nature as the ‘Other’. It also suggests that women and nature both appear as nurturers, thus they can better identify with each other. Ecofeminism advocates for cultural diversity, emphasising interdependence, equality, harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and the use of technology based on ecological principles. The visual work influenced by ecofeminist ideas, researches and explores the symbolic relationship between women and nature. By re-examining the language that feminises nature, such as the term ‘Virgin Forest‘ it seeks to demonstrate and prove the suppressed and dominated status of women and nature in patriarchal societies.

Research has shown a mutual relationship between environmental destruction and violence against women. The way people refer to the ‘Virgin Forest’ does not mirror their treatment of women and nature. During the research, similarities were found between the wounds suffered by women after violence and the destruction suffered by forests. The visual work uses mixed media such as image processing, collage, patching, and video. By using image processing to manipulate photographs of trees in the city and women’s bodies to resemble the colours, shapes, and textures of wounds suffered by women and trees after destruction, the artwork demonstrates the similarity of the harm suffered by women and nature, thus proving that women and nature are both dominated and suppressed in patriarchal societies. The patching with pins and red thread represents the evidence of the harm suffered by women and nature. Patching is evidence of the existence of wounds, as well as the process of repair, and mutual healing between women and nature. It emphasises the interconnectedness between women and nature, the inseparability of women’s destiny from nature’s destiny.

It calls on people to pay more attention to the destruction of forests and violence against women, urging people not to ignore the daily occurrence of violence against women and the destruction of nature. It hopes to enhance people’s awareness of protecting women and nature, respecting women’s rights and dignity, and eliminating gender discrimination and violence. It also hopes that victims of violence will not continue to remain silent but bravely speak out. Only in this way can we build a fair, just, and harmonious society and achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.