I’m Jiayi Liang, a lens-based visual artist. Over the past few years, I’ve been using art as a way to heal from my sexual trauma. I'm currently started a collaborative project called "Open Home" with different groups of survivors - inclusive of all gender identities. I'll be asking participants to open their homes and engage in creating art, fostering an act of trust. So, dear friend/stranger, may I have the honor of coming to your home to make photos?
In the "Open Home" project, participants will choose a specific area in their home presented without staging for the photoshoot. I'll bring along my paper cutout props to create images in their space. Participants are also welcome to join in the photos, becoming a part of the photograph. As a thank you, they will receive a photo taken in their homes in return.
As a woman, an international student, and a survivor of body trauma, home for me is a fluid and ever-evolving concept, shaped by my identity, experiences, relationships, and the places I inhabit along my journey of personal and academic growth. Home is also a synonym of safe space and shelter.
In this experimental project of collaboration, I am also trying to sort out the questions: how can we define our safe spaces and empower our bodies in a patriarchal society? In these chaotic times, how can we use creative collaboration to embrace our differences in race, identity, gender, and sexuality to build mutual trust and support?
Through the "Open Home" project, I hope to connect with a community of sexual abuse survivors to create spaces of shelter and foster a sense of belonging. This project is my path to finding belonging and connection in an unfamiliar city, and I invite you to join me. By connecting beyond the boundaries of ethnicity, society, and culture, we hope to embrace our vulnerability, and reshape and celebrate our self-identification.
