During my creative process, I immerse myself in my emotions. I am a sensitive and emotional person, so the themes of my work emerge from deep within, expressing my most authentic feelings and experiences, including the recognition of my own nation, familiar and unfamiliar parts of my growing-up environment and the emotional happiness and hurt I feel from my parents and people around me. When I create, I immerse myself in these experiences and emotions that completely surround me, constantly touching my nerves, and reflect on the details of some of my memories, and apply them in my works.
As a maker, I prefer to explore the innovation of materials, think about the fusion of different materials, and make by hand. For example, sewing, knitting, dyeing, weaving, mold making, are some of the techniques that I incorporate into my process.
Intimate Relationship Violence, 2022,wool, 3d printing material，27 x 47 in
My theme is intimate relationship violence. Based on my own experience, I summarize some characteristics of such behavior and people's inner feelings when they suffer from such behavior, and express them in clothes.
Intimate Relationship Violence, 2022,wool, 3d printing material，35 x 40 in
Intimate relationships are beautiful things, but some relationships are interspersed with violence, psychological control, and denigration and aggression. These acts of violence are packaged as intimate acts that tear apart and even spoil what should be a beautiful relationship.
Intimate Relationship Violence, 2022,wool, 3d printing material，32 x 45 in
I use colorful and pink yarn to express the beauty of intimate relationship. Red yarn is interwoven in the colorful yarn, which is made into a torn shape. The fabric of the red part is also made into a torn effect, which represents the destructive power brought by intimate relationship violence. This is the part where the spikes grow out of the yarn, but it's hidden under the surface of the colored yarn, and it represents this kind of intimate violence that goes through and takes over the relationship, and makes it impossible for the person who's in this dangerous relationship to escape it.
Intimate Relationship Violence, 2022,wool, 3d printing material，30 x 50 in
Intimate Relationship Violence, 2022,wool, 3d printing material，25 x 45 in
Intimate Relationship Violence, 2022,wool, 3d printing material，27 x 51 in
Zhao Di, 2023，Silicone rubber, acrylic paint
"Zhaodi" is a very common girl's name in China, which means looking forward to the birth of a younger brother. These girls who are not expected by their parents even have their names just to pray for the birth of a boy, without their own meaning. These girls born in patriarchal families are seen as a waste of money and useless existence from birth.
Zhao Di, 2023，nylon fabric
I made many breasts to irony people who treat women as animals. For example, pigs ,pig have many breasts and can feed many piglets at a time, thus achieving more efficient fertility in people's minds.
Zhao Di, 2023，Silicone rubber, acrylic paint
Under the phenomenon of son preference, women are required by their husband's family to give birth to a boy, and if it is a girl, to keep giving birth until they give birth to a boy. Women are treated as reproductive machines without dignity or rights of their own. I used to see my grandmother's belly skin sagging and covered in stretch marks from overbirth, and it was a big shock to me.
Zhao Di, 2023，nylon fabric
My concept is about a long-standing phenomenon in China: the preference for sons over daughters. This means that only male fetuses are valued, and female fetuses are abandoned or killed. Because the baby girl was seen as useless someone who would eventually marry into another family. The baby girl who survives will grow up ignored and took on the responsibility of raising her brother. Baby girls considered unwanted by their parents, are often drowned in the water.