INTRODUCTION
In 2022, traditional mainstream social model remains solid in China. Homosexual as the group of people who are out of the mainstream society also deemed as social marginalized people has a tough living conditions. Most homosexual people can not come out and build their own life. Instead, most of them prefer to hide their sexual orientation under the pressure of society and their families. So they naturally decide to have a ‘fake marriage’ or ‘marriage for convenience’ (a gay marry a lesbian) to keep their secrets.
MY SECRECT DIARY
A short hair girl
The girl in Mom's mind had long hair and pigtails.
My ordinary mission
I was born in 1980, I live in a traditional family, I don’t have too many hobbies, getting married and having children is the only mission in my life.
My husband should be a secret keeper
In the eyes of others, my ideal "husband" should be handsome and brave. But in my eyes, my ideal "husband", he should be a gay and a good secret keeper, and stick to our secret with me.
Fake marriage
According to data collected by sexologist Li Yinhe, 73% of homosexuals
choose to marry heterosexuals,
and I am one of them.
Wedding vows
I promise to keep the secret ourselves.
realize your sexual orientation, desires, and needs.
Take care of ourselves Without disturbing each other.
And to bring joy, strength, and imagination to our friendship.
I promise to keep my property independent,
To let you see through the window of my world into my innermost Fears and feelings, secrets and identities.
I promise to play the role well with you and to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship Understated and paced.
I promise to see you as a “partner”,
With all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how.
Till same-sex legalization do us part.
Tears
l stand on the stage and completed the wedding ceremony like a drama. I accepted the blessing of the “audiences” on the stage. I brust into tears at the moment of ring exchange. Everyone thought it was a tear of happiness, only myself know, I am sad for myself.
Day&Night
We are gay and lesbian. we are couple in the morning, stranger at night.We put on the mask in front of the crowd, and took it off behind the people. I hope that the hugging me at this moment is my true lover. But he is not.
on this night, I slept with him on his back ,both of us slept on either side of the bed. We are the hero and heroine in this frace, waiting for us is endless darkness.
Family of four
This family keeps the secrets of four people,
me, my girlfriend's,
my 'husband', and his boyfriend's.
“Mainstream” and “Traditional”
l don't know what is the definition of success in marriage of convenience, because in my opinion, choosing marriage of convenience is a failure in a sense. It is lost to life and to the society ’s “mainstream” and “traditional”..
What's more sad is that this road to marriage of convenience is my own choice.
MY SECRET FILM OF MY MARRIAGE
PHOTOS OF
MARRIAGE FOR CONVENIENCE
PROCESS & REARCH
BRIEF .
In 2022, traditional mainstream social model remains solid in China. Homosexual as the group of people who are out of the mainstream society also deemed as social marginalized people has a tough living conditions. Most homosexual people can not come out and build their own life. Instead, most of them prefer to hide their sexual orientation under the pressure of society and their families. So they naturally decide to have a ‘fake marriage’ or ‘marriage for convenience’ (a gay marry a lesbian) to keep their secrets.
REARCH .
In 2022, traditional mainstream social model remains solid in China. Homosexual as the group of people who are out of the mainstream society also deemed as social marginalized people has a tough living conditions. Most homosexual people can not come out and build their own life. Instead, most of them prefer to hide their sexual orientation under the pressure of society and their families. So they naturally decide to have a ‘fake marriage’ or ‘marriage for convenience’ (a gay marry a lesbian) to keep their secrets.
'The data indicates that 73% of homosexual people in
china decide to get married. 59% of them are getting
married to a heterosexual, and there are also 31%
people are choosing convenience marriage.'
--- Yinhe Li
It is extremely important to behave "normal" in Chinese society, marriage, and childbearing are
A necessary part of "normal" life, people tend to think that people who remain celibate are "abnormal" - celibate - (whether gay or not) may even suffer material exclusion from - social resources
--- DING Yi-ran
EXPERIMENT .
'Sewing Process'
In the process of visual experimentation, we first tried to recreate the photos we collected in the way of graffiti, and tried to give the photos a new meaning by adding some visual symbols. During the production process, we tried to incorporate lines into the photos. Because in Chinese culture, ‘lines’ are often used to express the connection and relationship between people, we use lines to sew some new visual symbols in the photos, and use lines and new symbols to change the people’s relationship in the photos. At the same time, in the process of sewing photos with threads, we continue to explore and learn the way of sewing.
We modified the photos and shot videos of the fake couple’s sleeping positions.
Traces on the sheets reflect the intimacy of the fake couple
‘百年好合’
means 'being
together
forever'
In traditional Chinese wedding customs, people will put peanuts on the marriage bed, which means some good wishes. In the process of sleeping, peanuts will move with the changes of limbs, and these displacements reflect the intimate relationship between the couple.
FINAL .
One is ‘Photo Bizarre’, which changed the
original meaning of the photos by stitching lines on them. All the couples
become fake couples and all the people in the photos seem like suffered a
lot because of their homosexual identity. The photos bring a strong sense of
bizarre and offer much food for thought.
Finally， my work ends up in three forms.
Secondly, it’s ‘Underground Film’, we keep the secret in the film because
the medium of negatives has a hidden, realistic meaning. It accentuates the
grief about the convenience of married people. And it also expresses those people
have to hide themselves in order to enter mainstream society.
Thirdly, It's a secret diary, on the surface, it seems to show my normal life, but in fact, it records my true feelings and monologues about this marriage in a piercing way, which can only be seen in a secret way .