Jingwei Bu

The Meaning of A to Z

The Meaning of A to Z is an ongoing exploration of the politics of difference and feminism within the immigrant experience, as seen through the lens of a female Chinese artist. Through the medium of hand-punched aluminum sheets with a stone,  selected English words from the artist’s years of navigating Australia are etched onto the surface, reflecting the malleability of the material, the reinscribing of the body and identity. These marks symbolize the irreversible nature of social change, permanently altering the surface, the body and the underlying identity. The interchangeable pages and transformative words mirror the fluidity of cultural identity, while the metaphor of the artist’s body inscribed onto aluminum signifies the nuanced relationship between personal and cultural identity. As the artist navigates between Chinese and Australian cultures, she occupies a liminal space, embodying the tension between belonging and otherness.