Mariela Gavino - Pixy Liao - Post 10

Pixy Liao

Liao's photo series Experimental Relationship, explores her relationship with her long-term boyfriend. Overall, Liao's compositions have bright exposures with a pop of color. The lighting is never really too dramatic (maybe a little in the last photo). In some of the photos, she chooses to make direct eye contact with the photo and confronts the viewer. The edges of Liao's photos are also considered, with some things drifting in and out of frame. It closes the compositions more, forcing the eye to keep moving back to the center. The eye is then brought back to Liao herself who center's herself in the photos. There is also evidence of the remote shutter release in the photos which breaks the fourth wall and emphasizes a the self-aware aspect.

The way Liao uses her boyfriend like a prop clearly communicates the type of relationship they share. She has a dominance over him, which is stereotypically not associated with Asian women. This direct comment on the dominance in a relationship isn't too heavily explored by Asians. Typically, sexuality (especially a women's sexuality) is taboo all around Asia. Women are "supposed" to be submissive and sexual desire is secretive. Although these ideas are quit traditional there is strong evidence of it in modern Asia today. While she is communicating a dominance, there is also a caring nature in the photographs. There isn't a sign of too much anxiety, instead her boyfriend seems compliant and still loving.

I was very personally impacted by these photos. I loved how Liao portrayed her relationship. I grew up in a strict religious, Asian household where conversation of sexuality was nonexistent. When I first saw these photos, I was excited by the fact that it was an Asian woman portraying dominance in a loving relationship. It was something I hadn't really seen before. Dominance is being said not in a negative connotation but rather it is displaying a new perspective. This dominance is never really associated with Asian women but it is real. Its a more dramatized way of displaying it but nonetheless it communicates this idea in an elegant, sometimes humorous manner.