SHUIXIN WANG
GRAPHIC DESIGNER // DIGITAL ARTIST // RISD 2023 //
︎ Information
︎ Soundcloud
THE PLIGHTS OF WOMEN
Poster Series
The poster series is designed around a single theme that addresses the predicaments women face in a patriarchal society. Each poster has its own subtitle, including abuse, oppression, murder, restriction, imprisonment, and despoilment. The series was inspired by news and events observed on a website during a summer break. It is shocking how often violent incidents like these occur, and it is even more regrettable that the news only reflects a small percentage of them, as the vast majority of victims are not reported. According to national statistics, “on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. 1 in 4 women experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, use of victim services, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, etc.”
However, the violation of women's rights is not just an issue in the United States, but a global problem. When browsing Chinese news, murders against women are frequently seen. Additionally, human trafficking of women is also a serious problem in China. The SIREN human trafficking data sheet reported that girls and young women between 14 and 20 years old were most likely to be trafficked. In 2022, the Xuzhou chained woman incident brought human trafficking back into the public eye, once again exposing the brutal enslavement of women.
However, the violation of women's rights is not just an issue in the United States, but a global problem. When browsing Chinese news, murders against women are frequently seen. Additionally, human trafficking of women is also a serious problem in China. The SIREN human trafficking data sheet reported that girls and young women between 14 and 20 years old were most likely to be trafficked. In 2022, the Xuzhou chained woman incident brought human trafficking back into the public eye, once again exposing the brutal enslavement of women.
I know that graphic design has a strong visual impact, and I believe that good work should have meaning and lead the audience to think. Moreover, as an artist, I feel responsible for representing other groups. All these events have prompted me to design this series of posters. My hope is that through this set of posters, the plight of women will be brought back into the public view so that the audience can confront this cruel reality directly and consider what we can do to achieve gender equity. In my posters, I use the red moon or red shapes to represent women because the moon is associated with feminine features in many cultures worldwide, and the color red is another widely recognized symbol for women. This color also symbolizes the bloody situations that women have experienced and faced. Most of the elements are from photos I took around campus, which represents that all these terrible things are widespread, even occurring around us.