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ILLUSTRATIONS
6 PAGES

1 《An Unexpected Encounter》/《不期而遇》

This picture shows the process of a woman's unwanted conception. The woman in the center of the picture lives in a bubble broken by sperm, which is a metaphor for the irreversibility of female egg conception as bubble bursting. The picture as a whole can also be seen as a broken belt of planets and asteroids, like the falling blocks in the hands of women, which means that women's routine life is greatly disrupted by unplanned conception. The authors wish to emphasize that conception itself is uncontrollable and irreversible, that it is a natural process and that the process itself occurs passively. This result can be caused by many different circumstances, including teenage pregnancy, failed contraception, rape and so on. In these cases, women have no control over the initial stage of conception. The female's subjective initiative is not embodied in the egg's rejection of sperm.

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2《Down》/《下坠》

This picture is intended to emphasize the external situation of women under the traditional Chinese public opinion environment. This picture depicts a pregnant woman hanging helplessly with her mouth covered above a ring of fire, an abyss at her feet. All around her were huge, gender-neutral faces staring at her with different expressions. This implies that in the traditional Chinese context, women are not allowed to give any public explanation for the unexpected pregnancy, and the slightest mistake will fall into the abyss of public opinion. Her situation is endlessly scrutinized, as in a circus, with curious and strange eyes. In the traditional Chinese context, unintended pregnancy is a taboo topic, so talking about it is an adventure in itself. But when viewers look closely (and more clearly with AR technology), they can see that there are people who sympathize with her situation amid a crowd of indifferent and disdainful eyes. But whatever the external views may be, the very existence of these views will cause great psychological pressure on the parties concerned.

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3《The Sticky Star You Can't Let Go》/《无法放手的棘手之星》

This figure emphasizes the balance and entanglement of women's life and obligation after their focus turns to themselves. The psychological pressure faced by women themselves consists of two parts: the guilt of giving up new life and the struggle for their future. A spiky star behind the baby in the center of the picture is the subject, and the woman refuses to let go even though her hands are cut by its sharp edges and her face is hard to see. The umbilical cord connects the baby to the woman in the form of a twisted cord, while neurons serve as clues to the fierce battle in the brain that runs through the scenes. The author hopes to express through the picture that life itself is sacred, but accepting the new life also means that women need to take on responsibilities and obligations that those who conceive unwillingly cannot bear. This burden will greatly affect the future development of women. The umbilical cord is wrapped around the woman's hand in the form of a turnover cord (a traditional Chinese knot-tying game), a detail that cleverly introduces the Chinese context. In China, it's a two-person game, but in this case the author thinks the actual decision maker should be the mother herself. As a result, she must rely on her inner power to make the final decision, which requires her to play the game for two alone, which increases the difficulty of the "game" and puts her through very painful choices. The metaphor is that although women may have support from other aspects in this process, in essence she needs to be independent and responsible for the results of her choices.

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4《The Long Road Always Comes To An End》/
《道长而岐,行则将至》

This picture is intended to depict the process of women gradually choosing abortion after repeatedly overthrowing and rebuilding their inner order. At the center of the image is a large human face of a woman hesitating on the road. The human face and eyes are filled with tears, and the eyelashes are connected to countless signals that are constantly changing. Women walk on a winding road, and the picture ends with a spindle-shaped light. A signal light attached to the eyelashes changes its signal with every blink of an eye, suggesting that women will overturn their decisions numerous times during the process. The way forward is very tortuous, but it leads to a predetermined point, meaning that no matter how tangled and painful the process, the woman has subconsciously decided the end point -- abortion. The spindle-shaped light at the end of the picture suggests the contours of the female genitalia, which also alludes to this decision. Even though the decision has been made, the process is so exhausting and grueling that the woman has tears in her eyes and looks around.

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5《The Transformation》/《变身》

This picture depicts the procedure of abortion. The picture refers to the transformation of a magical girl in a Japanese anime. It depicts the process of a woman who has had an abortion breaking out of the cocoon and becoming a butterfly with surgical tools as weapons. Behind the woman, the umbilical cord is no longer continuous, and blood gurgles from below.The spindle light behind the woman also implies the outline of female genitalia, which echoes the previous illustration. Thus, blood flows not only from the female body but also from the female genitals, further reinforcing the subject of abortion. The author hopes to compare the process of female abortion to the process of magic girl transformation, and extend the control over the body to the control of life. At the same time, it also hopes to give new feminist meaning to this picture which seems too bloody in the conventional context, so as to emphasize the leading role of female consciousness in it. The broken umbilical cord behind the picture symbolizes the disconnection with the unborn child and the disconnection between women and their old selves. Together with the butterfly wings behind the picture, it emphasizes that women are about to be reborn and embark on a new life journey.

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6《Happy Deathday》/《死日快乐》

This picture is the last one in the series and the answer to the riddle. In the center of the image are the souls of women and babies wishing on a cake with the number zero and many candles, and in the background is a party-decorated room with a slogan on the wall that says happy Day of death. In the traditional Chinese context, death is very taboo, so death always seems to be associated with pain and taboos. However, the author hopes to give the audience a new perspective on abortion. So the author reversed the familiar topic of happy birthday to celebrate abortion day in the form of happy birthday cake. The zero candle on the cake symbolizes that the cake is made for an unborn child. In the traditional Chinese context, candles are not only a tool to celebrate birthdays, but also a symbol of prayer and commemoration at the time of death. The women celebrated as they silently remembered the unborn baby. On the one hand, the unborn child is celebrated for being saved from an unblessed birth, and on the other hand, the woman is celebrated for starting a new life and taking ownership of the discourse.  In this way, the author hopes that the audience will have a new thinking about abortion itself. Therefore, abortion can be seen as a woman's control of her own destiny, as well as a reflection of women's human rights.

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JIE SHEN/ YOIKO

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