Painted Skin
A monster in beautiful human skin
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The project is about the famous ancient literary novel of “Liao Zhai Zhi Yi”. The content describes a female ghost disguising herself as a beautiful woman with the human skin draped over her body, which can be taken off and painted, as a metaphor for a beautiful appearance that conceals a hideous face or an ugly nature. Painted skin is a story from Liaozhai, written by Pu Songling The story is about a monster wearing beautiful human skin in order to get the love of a man and seduce the man through her beautiful appearance. It reminds me of the disguise that some women used to seduce men.
PROJECT CONCEPT
The short story has a big meaning, and the author used ghosts to depict people, penetrating and reflecting the 17th-century Chinese society at that time. Hence, my design is influenced by this story. The intention in this 'Painted Skin' is to reflect on the 'foolishness and obsession' of those who 'love their lover's beauty and fish for it'. There are many ways to disguise ourselves, and masks fit the theme the best. A mask, like human skin, is used as a beautiful cover to hide one’s original face, thereby veiling the true identity. Most of the ways that women use to seduce men are pretending to be innocent and cute, even when they are actually evil and ugly in their heart. I hope to deliver a message of being pure outside the mask but evil inside
