Playful and therapeutic approach to internalized insecurities and self-reflection
F*** Your Manners, a striking multimedia exhibit by Shawna X
We visited Shawna X solo show at A/D/O in Brooklyn, last month and coulnd't miss the opportunity to share her delightful and inspiring work. F*** Your Manners is an installation consisting of mixed media large-scale sculptural work - an impressive and colorful mouth with a giant tongue, surrounded by large inflatable balloons of various food items - accompanied by five illustrative art prints and a mukbang video compilation. Mukbang is a portmanteau of the Korean words for “eating” and “broadcast" - the term describes livestreams of people eating large amounts of food for an online audience.
Having been embarrassed by her parent’s eating manners, Shawna X found inspiration for her series when she began wondering why: Why is it rude to slurp noodles, when slurping is the way to savor the flavor? Why is eating with our hands a faux pas? Why don’t we eat every part of an animal? Why did she feel embarrassment in the first place?
F*** Your Manners is a renewed appreciation of mannerisms deemed impolite and rejected by the Western Gaze but accepted in her culture. This body of work asks you, the viewer, to evaluate your internalized biases. Shawna X was inspired to produce this work when she discovered her internalized guilt and shame in connection to her relationship with her parents, her perception of their seemingly obvious foreignness, down to their eating manners.
Learn more about Shawna and her gorgeous work on this interesting interview published by MAEKAN.
Photos on this article, by Collin Hughes originally published on Shawna X website.
F*** Your Manners is a renewed appreciation of mannerisms deemed impolite and rejected by the Western Gaze but accepted in her culture. This body of work asks you, the viewer, to evaluate your internalized biases.
Shawna X is an independent artist and visual director, working with various mediums across digital, spatial and motion. She is known for her graphic, curious and vibrant aesthetic, evoking energy and seduction. She is inspired by Imperial Chinese textile design, poetry by Richard Brautigan, "Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera and 70s Italian architecture. Beyond her commercial collaborations with brands such as Adidas, Adobe and Ghostly International, she works on various nonprofit and personal projects discussing cultural identity, sexuality, gender and the modern creative process. Shawna also teaches at Parsons School for Design and is Time 1986 person of the year.
