Society takes our identity

This image explores the issue of sexual orientation and the controversy that comes with it. While the androgynous looking girl on the left desires to dress like a boy, society exerts its pressure, as seen through the symbolic use of the scissors to cut the binder that contributes to her masculine image.

The same girl on the right is a projection of a society’s acceptable image of a girl and what she is expected to dress like. However, her insistence on holding onto the binder symbolises a quiet act of defiance against societal expectations as she wishes to safeguard the binder that represents her sexuality and sexual orientation.

The issue of acceptance of gay rights is reinforced through the cutouts of newspapers pasted haphazardly on the background. ‘The Penal Code 377A’, ‘Pink Dot Movement…’ and ‘Rally at Hong Lim Park…’ headlines were issues that involved gay rights, which links to the cultural and historical perspective of Singapore.

Through the use of condensed code, the photo summarises the strong desire of the girl in the image to be unashamedly open about her sexual orientation, only to be rejected and disapproved of by society.