YING-FANG SHEN ANIMATION & MOVING IMAGE 

The Tactility of Memory and Life

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My artistic practice sits at the intersection of traditional Eastern aesthetics and contemporary digital animation, focusing on the sensory and emotional landscapes of domesticity, cultural heritage, and the biological essence of life. Drawing from Asian folk arts—such as paper-cutting, shadow puppetry, and textile dyeing—I seek to translate the intangible rhythms of human experience into tactile, visual narratives.

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In early works like "The Tale of The Day" (2014), I utilized shadow-play aesthetics to reinterpret folklore, exploring how reductive forms can carry weight in historical storytelling. This fascination with reductive forms evolved into 'Humanexus' (2014), a project that visualizes the sprawling history of human connection. In this work, I translated the evolution of communication—from primitive gestures to the digital age—into a series of distinct material environments. Rather than treating information as an abstract concept, I rendered the flow of ideas as tangible, visual phenomena that adapt to their historical context. Whether through shifting textures, rhythmic silhouettes, or evolving graphic symbols, I aimed to manifest the 'physicality' of human thought, bridging the gap between ancient ritual and modern connectivity.

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My more recent work shifts toward the intimate and biological. "The Waves" (2015) employs the organic patterns of shibori (tie-dyeing) to evoke the primal imagery of fertilization, while "Nurture" (2021) utilizes the fluidity of ink and paper to explore the visceral reality of motherhood. My latest series, "Pieces of Home," continues this trajectory by balancing intentional composition with the unadorned beauty of physical materials.

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Across these diverse projects, a consistent thread remains: the use of materiality as a bridge to the subconscious. Whether through the crisp edge of a paper-cut or the bleed of ink on a fiber surface, my work examines how the "pieces" of our daily existence—labor, rituals, and memories—coalesce into a unified sense of home and self. Through this sustained rigor, I strive to honor the essence of the gesture and the profound stories embedded in the mundane.