ID
Title: ID
Year: 2022
Size: 47 x 40 in
Medium: Oil on canvas
This work revisits a formative stage of gender self-recognition shaped by internalized misogyny and societal expectations. As a child, Zhao was repeatedly exposed to narratives portraying girls as inherently fragile and overly emotional. In response, Zhao began distancing myself from femininity—cutting hair short and replacing pink objects, once beloved, with blue as a symbolic rejection.
Depicting herself during this period of embracing masculine-coded aesthetics, the life-sized figure references her old ID photo—an enduring image of that imposed identity. Through this work, Zhao confronts the binary constructs of gender and reflects on the lasting impact of institutional representations on self-perception.