Born/Raw
- Laura Li李婧宜
- Weitzman School of Design (PennDesign)
-
Student Creative Production Grant
Born/Raw.
“When I was six, my mom received her first abortion. Under the strict One-Child Policy, if she didn’t, both my parents would lose their jobs. Around the same time, I was told by my grandmother that I was almost aborted as well. They found out that I was a girl, but it was too late to do the operation.
When I was 8, my mom received another abortion. My grandmother said she dreamed that the aborted baby was a twin brother and told me that if I didn’t exist, she could have two grandsons. My mother went to temples to seek advice from fortune-tellers. I overheard my mom passing the words to the family. The fortune teller told my mom that my Ba-Zi (birth time) showed that I should have been a boy but I was born into the wrong body. That might be the reason that the family can’t have more boys. Growing up hearing these, I started feeling alienated from the body that gradually evolved to be feminine-like and internalize the guilt of blaming myself of killing the unborn-ed.“
Laura Li 李婧宜 will create a 12-15-minute-long video that intersects with poetry film, documentary, and animation to construct a space that is both safe for them and their audience to explore such an intimate yet painful topic. While drifting back and forth between the narrative of the past and inner reflection of the “now”, Laura also wants to offer pathways for conversation and reflection over the systematic occupation of womxn’s bodies in hope to provide light on the (de)construction of gender.