MICA ILP MFA'22 Thesis Book / Xiran Luo

Superficial Monologue

膚淺 獨白

Xiran Luo 羅曦冉

Intro

開始前

02 04

Inspiration

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Interview Comic

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1

做採訪 編漫畫

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Exhibition

為什麼

布個展

Intro

開始前

我是羅曦冉，出生在中國的中南部城市，湖南長沙。2019 年我從北京航空航天大學繪畫系本科畢業，來到了馬里 蘭藝術學院插畫實踐系。2020年因為疫情，我決定回國休 學，自由職業了一整年。 次年回到學校，加入新一屆同學。如此算來，我也是認識 校友最多的 ILP 學生了。其實從申請這個專業開始我就對 插畫始終抱有一種不滿足的心態，來到 MICA ，算是滿足 了我對材料的好奇心。我在必修課之外，選修了大量其他 專業的基礎課，比如雕塑，膠片攝影，聲音裝置，字體設 計，甚至是城市農場 …… 這些學科或多或少影響了我的畢 業設計，成為你所看到的這個項目的一部分。

I'm Xiran Luo, born in Changsha, Hunan, a city in south-central China. I graduated from Beihang University in 2019 and came to Maryland Institute College of Art, Illustration Practice MFA program.

I returned to China in 2020 as a freelancer and took a leave of absence because of COVID-19. In 2021 fall, I came back to school and joined a new class of students.

I guess I am the ILP student who knows the most alumni.

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Frankly, I’m always unsatisfied with illustration since I applied to this program. Studying in MICA satisfied my curiosity about the material. I took a lot of intro studio classes in other majors outside of the required ones, such as sculpture, film photography, sound installation, typography, and even urban farming...... These disciplines more or less influenced my thesis and became part of what you'll see in this project.

n o i t a r i p s In

為什麼

多的 非常 。 過 試 格 ，嘗 的性 痘了 造著我 花在對 長 始就 和塑 更多 右開 直影響 把精力 不那麼自 左 歲 一 會 都 甚 12 瘡 我從 法。痤 卑，反而 因此一直 關係， 密 下 方 自 也 親 留 療 過 邊 治 貌的 但我 對外 探索。 從未嘗試 。不過身 說我 為 者 因 的 也 力的 ，或 世界 之前 內心 入大學 無性吸引 我的痤瘡 進 毫 信 ， 自 己 是 來 不 在 意 相處。 得 從 的人 至覺 友，卻 膚病 皮 朋 有 來 的 易和患 容 也更

I have had acne since I was about 12 years old and have tried various treatments.

Acne has always shaped my personality because of my low self-esteem about my appearance. Instead, I would spend more energy exploring my inner world. I was never confident enough to enter any relationship until I went to college, and felt I was sexually unattractive. The friends who stayed around, however, never cared about my acne. I was more likely to get along with people who suffered from skin conditions as well.

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2019 年我看到微博上有一個博主（ @ 海豚可愛多君）發布了很多讀者的投 稿，大家每日記錄著自己的皮膚狀 況，他們都在吃一種藥，那就是異維 A 酸。看著他們一步步變好的記錄， 我開始查原來非常不信任的西藥，最 終我在來美國之前開始服藥，到了年 底，我能明顯感覺到皮膚狀況顯著改 善。這個我以為一輩子都不可能實現 的事情居然真的發生了。從那時候開 始，雖然還會有反复的情況，但我的 心結已經打開了，我能在公共領域和 人討論起痤瘡這件事。

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In 2019 I saw a skin-care influencer on Weibo reposting a lot of messages from followers. People daily documented their skin conditions, and they were all taking a medication, which was Isotretinoin. Looking at their stepby-step records of getting better, I started to look up the Western medicine that I had so distrusted, and eventually, I started taking it before coming to the U.S. By the end of the year, I felt a visible improvement in my skin condition, which I thought would never happen in my life. From then on, although recurrences hasn't stopped, the knots were opened and I could share my stories to people about acne in the public.

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I've always hated taking selfies.

Daily photo record have helped me get over my face.

自拍是我一直非常厭惡的事情， 所以每日皮膚記錄讓我對自己的 臉也逐漸克服心理障礙。

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This is my family photo when I was 5. All of us have oily skin and we share similar problems.

這是我們全家合照。一家人都是油性 皮膚，大家都有類似的煩惱。

在2021年八月份我開始寫proposal的時 候，其實並沒有選擇這個主題。當時 非常想要做“沉默的視覺化”這個題目。 後來覺得實在無法深入，於是翻出了 研一做的 Idea Book ，發現我對我的痤 瘡這個話題的探索，從RisoZine，到雕 塑課的面具，再到我對我臉部的每日記 錄，其實已經形成了一些屬於我的視覺 語言。我對這個話題依然保有很大的興 趣，但故事的來源不僅僅只是從我身上 挖掘，而是我從身邊朋友開始採訪。皮 膚病也不僅僅局限於我熟悉的痤瘡，也 涉及到了黃褐斑、銀屑病、胎記等等。 在這個過程中我感受到對於這些許多人 一生中都會經歷的疾病，還有更多人的 故事和心聲沒有被看見和分享，我深知 處在焦慮和自卑當中的患者是多麼需要 被傾聽、被理解和被支持。而我能做 的，就是記錄下這些隱秘的聲音。

This comic is the work of my first year RISO workshop. It is a fictional story about how acne sufferers ridiculously face the pressure from social media.

這個漫畫是我研一的RISO工作坊的作 品。講述痤瘡患者如何荒謬面對社交 媒體的壓力的虛構故事。

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The tablet mask was a project in my first year sculpture class. At that time, the finished tablets were collected and wrapped in wire to form a mask. The areas with acne were covered with pills, and the healthy skin was covered with a hollow capsule.

Photograph by Pei-Shan Huang.

I had been recording my skin condition for three months. This is a GIF self-portrait.

藥片面具是我研一雕塑課的一個項 目。當時把服用完畢的藥片收集下來 和鐵絲纏繞成一個面具。有痤瘡的部 位覆蓋了藥片，健康的皮膚覆蓋著空 殼。攝影：黃佩姍。

服藥的三個月我一直在記錄自己的皮 膚狀況。這其實是一個GIF自畫像。

When I started writing my proposal in August 2021, I didn't choose this topic. At that time, I wanted to do the topic "Visualization of Silence". I found that many explorations of the topic of my acne: riso comic zine, the masks in a sculpture class, and my daily skin records GIF, had actually formed my own visual languages. I still had a great interest in this topic, but my stories and experiences are limited, I started interviewing friends around me. Skin conditions were also not limited to my familiar acne, but also involved melasma, psoriasis, birthmarks, and more.

In this process, I felt that there are more stories and voices that are not be seen and shared about these diseases that most people will experience in their lifetime. I know how much patients with anxiety and low self-esteem need to be heard, understood, and supported. What I can do is uncover these hidden voices.

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e t n I

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因為我的受訪者幾乎都來自中國，時差的關係我們視頻訪 談的時間通常是清晨或者午夜。我要么剛起床，要么剛洗 完澡。我不會在採訪時化妝，穿著也盡量隨意，看起來甚 至有些“醜”，因為我不希望我讓採訪對象感受到任何外貌壓 力。沒有人願意對一個“完美者”傾訴自己的脆弱。 因為皮膚可以說是人體最大的器官，它的歷史就是個人成 長的歷史。這期間多半會伴隨著人的交友，親密關係，性 經歷，性格也會受到不同程度的影響。有的時候採訪對像 說到非常痛苦的回憶，甚至會哽咽和哭泣。我想大家平常 或許都很少有這樣的討論機會，更缺乏一對真心理解的耳 朵來傾聽。 一開始的時候我是想要採訪來自不同國家和文化的人橫向 對比，但後來嘗試過採訪韓國同學後我發現我用英語很難 深入交流，於是我改變了想法。先把中國人的故事做好， 如果被人看到，有共情，再延伸到其他的文化。

e I held from China, the tim e ar s ee w ie rv te t Since all of my in orning or midnigh as usually early m w s 't w dn ie di rv I . te er in o ow vide ken a sh st woken up or ta s when I'd either ju and I tried to dres , w ie the interv ng ri t to du an p w t eu n' ak do m I r e wea gly" becaus "u le litt a ok lo ts to talk casually and even wees. No one wan ie rv te in y m on put any pressure person". ility to a "perfect ab er ln vu r ei th t abou history is man body, so its hu e th in n ga or t intimate Skin is the larges dual. Friendships, vi di in ch ea of y grees of part of the histor s, and different de ce en ri pe ex al xu or face. relationships, se ine with our skin rtw te in ill w ce en t painful personality influ iewees talked abou rv te in n he w es may not There were tim cried. I think we d an up de ok ch ons and memories, they scuss skin conditi di to ty ni rtu po often have the op re ears to listen. lack a pair of since le from different to interview peop d te an w I , st fir At rison, but after res to make compa ltu cu d an fficult for s ie tr un co dents I found it di stu an re Ko w ie ged my trying to interv English. So I chan in n tio sa er nv co extend it me to have deep ies done, and then or st e es in Ch e th mind: first, get naturally. to other cultures

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Your experience with the disease: when did it start and what kind of treatment did you use? What was the effect? 你的患病經歷：什麼時候開始 的，使用過什麼樣的治療方法 呢？效果如何？

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How do people around you perceive yourself? 周圍的人是如何看待自己的？

一般採訪都要一到兩個小時，完成之後我會用文字再整理一遍。每周如果有一到 兩場採訪，是很消耗人的。我2021秋季學期幾乎沒有太多時間來沉澱下來構思故 事和漫畫，但每週都有Meeting，也不得不畫點什麼。所以我到現在對敘事不算 很滿意。因為我本身就不太擅長漫畫這個形式，再加上改編別人的非虛構故事， 幾乎難以找到參考的場景、人物，如何揚長避短是我一直頭疼的問題。後來我還 是選擇了一些接近圖畫書的跨頁設計，以至於我在很長一段時間裡一直覺得自己 的風格和內容變化太大，不夠統一，感覺不同的故事像是來自不同的書。

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Is there any experience that stands out about skin disease?

When, where, and who? 有什麼印象深刻的關於皮膚病 的事情嗎？你對皮膚病這件事 的看法？

Do you think your habits and personality have been affected by the skin disease? 你覺得自己的生活習慣和性格 有受到皮膚病的影響嗎？

Usually, the interviews take one to two hours, and I'll archive them in doc after I finished. Having one or two interviews a week can be exhausting. I barely had time to polish and refine the stories in the 2021 fall semester. To be honest, most of my comics were done on Sunday, before Whitney’s Monday one on one meeting. So I'm not really happy with the narrative so far. I am not good at comics, plus adapting other people's true stories, it was more difficult to find reference scenes and characters than fiction comic. How to build on my strengths and avoid my weaknesses was a constant challenge for me. For several months, I felt my style and content changed too much and were not uniform enough, looking like short stories from different books.

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c i m Co

e u q i Crit

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逐漸 格子 出 畫 示 漫 整暗 。 我把 調 ， ” 距 R 真實 的間 靠近 guest MBE E 間 斷 M 子之 在不 “R E 很多 加 自 漫 畫 通 過 格 想 像 正 ，其實 更 的 列 始 觀 內 容 事，格 併， 最 開 到 合 實 的 主 固定排 ， 讓 敘 離 消 的 非 事 從 疏 客 觀 格子是 格 子 取 常 熟 練 。 對 的 非 把 物 我 敘事 出 脆 人 張 時候 議 我 乾 有摸索 的正常 的 者一 容 有 沒 建 s 或 內 還 t s 圖 我 在 快的 arti 線構 奏太 經 我現 保證了 角 但 節 對 曾 種 由。 程度上 用了 人一 我也 定 樣， 個 人 的 直接 會給 子一 一 我 許 然每 的方 都不 裡， ，或 故事 定 ， 既 最 貼 近 跨頁 講述 個 少 來 在 不 圖 片 youts 每 後 來 決 能 去 用 的 但 La 可 整 性。 完 一， 就盡 我的 統 統一 ？ 我 要 的 覺 麼 不 體 感 那 過要 同， 慮整 猶豫 此不 不是考 如 故事 事，而 敘 來 法

In the first comic "REMEMBER", I gradually changed the grid from detached to merged, and the spacing between the panels suggested that the characters' subjective imagination of objective facts was getting closer to reality. There are times when my panels are not in fixed arrangement, in fact, many guest artists suggest that I simply eliminate the grid to allow more freedom of content. But I haven't figured out a very skillful narrative yet, and the grid ensures the normal

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narrative of my content to a certain extent. In quite a few spreads, I've used a straightforward diagonal composition or full spreads to tell the story, maybe the pace is too fast? My Layouts are different for each story, and I hesitated to unify them. Since everyone's story is so different, I would go for the most suitable narrative, rather than thinking about the overall unity.

The comic book insert is from the story "Remember". 漫畫內頁出自故事《記憶》。

筆刷是用的Kyle的Adobe官網的水彩筆刷。這個風格我 以前幾乎沒有畫過，花了一段時間去適應。因為水彩 筆刷適合塗色塊，所以我的形體總會出現難以掌控的情 況，我比較喜歡這種有點失控的感覺。 顏色方面，一開始會擔心不夠統一，但畫多了之後，能 感覺到明顯的統一性：寫實的固有色，整體偏暖灰。因 為太依靠固有色，所以色調很難統一。我也沒有固定的 色卡，每週畫的色彩感受差別比較大。這也是今後如果 要畫漫畫需要注意的地方。最好是先對色彩有實驗，再 統一上色。像我這樣每週出完成稿的做法太冒險，也不 可持續。 （謝謝Breeze的提醒和點撥）

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The brushes were Kyle's watercolor brushes from the Adobe. I have hardly ever painted in this style before, and it took me a while to get used to it. Because watercolor brushes are suitable for painting blocks of color, it was always difficult to precisely control the shape. I prefer this kind of feeling of being a little out of control.

In terms of color, at first, I was worried about the lack of consistency, but after drawing more, I could feel the color palette: realistic inherent colors and warm gray tone. Because it relies too much on the inherent color, it is difficult to unify the tone. I also don't have a fixed color palette, so the color feeling varies a lot from week to week. This is also something I need to pay attention to if I want to draw comics in the future. It's better to experiment with colors first. It's too risky and unstable to produce a finished comic every week (Thanks to Breeze for the color critique).

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The process of changing the cover of each story. 每個故事封面的變化過程。

秋季學期final critique的時候有guest說不太能看懂我 每一個故事是在說不同的人。我的朋友涵章也這麼覺 得。之前的每一個開頭是如同劇本對話一樣的形式， 但沒有標註說話人，比較像大家在手機聊天的格式。 長文本+小字，或許首先就不會讓人想要閱讀，從而誤 以為所有的故事都是一個人的，所以產生疑惑。 涵章建議我在故事開始之前可以展示我做採訪的過 程， Breeze 提議我用一個 Zoom 界面的形式開場作為 序言介紹採訪流程。到後來，每一個故事開始之前我 都寫清楚採訪人的信息，這樣能保證大部分人在閱 讀之前起碼知道這絕不是同一個人的故事。我把 11個 故事分成了三個部分，分別是 Mirror ， Reflection 和 To Reality。我覺得人本身是無法判斷自己的美醜，只 有存在於一個參考系之中，有了對比才有美醜的分辨 心。因此鏡子也成為我的展覽裡的一部分。

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In the fall semester of the final critique, a guest artist said she couldn't quite understand that each of my stories was about a different person. Hanzhang felt the same way. Each of the previous open pages is in the same format as a scripted conversation, but without showing the speaker, more like how people chat on a cell phone. The heavy text in small font might not make people want to read it in the first place, thus misled that all the stories are about one person, and thus creating confusion. Hanzhang suggested that I could show my process of doing the interview before the story started, and Breeze suggested that I could begin with a Zoom interface. Later, I wrote the interviewer's information clearly before each story started, so that most people would at least know that it was never the same person's story before reading it.

Later I divided the 11 stories into three parts: Mirror, Reflection and To Reality, I think people cannot judge their own beauty and ugliness without being in a reference system, and only with the contrast can they distinguish between beauty and ugliness. That's why mirror is also part of my exhibition.

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第一學期跟 Whitney 的每一次 Meeting 都 要花費一半的時間在英文寫作的糾正上。 我有時候是先寫中文再翻譯成英文，其 實這樣做沒有更節約時間，而且我的英 文寫作能力也沒有進步。後來我找了四 次writing workshop的Ashley幫我修改文 本，她在最後一次非常盡心地幫我從閱 讀體驗和圖文關係再到語法錯誤修正完之 後，提出想要跟我視頻聊一聊，能夠更好 地幫助我提昇文本寫作。我特別感激她， 哪怕我們幾乎沒有見過面。

Whitney helped me a lot in the first semester, but every meeting took half of the time on correcting my English writing which made me a little awkward.

Then I asked for help from MICA writing workshop. Ashley did the script correction four times. After the last one, she was very dedicated to helping me fix everything from the reading experience to grammar mistakes and offered to have a video chat with me to improve my storytelling. I was especially grateful to her, even though we had barely met in person.

This typeface named "Skin". I drew it digitally and uploaded to a website called "Calligraphr". It is not a perfect comic typeface but it can bring more humanity to the whole design. 我在網站Calligraphr上傳了自己 寫的字體，生成了漫畫內文字 體。比之前的電腦字體多了一絲 人味兒。

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Jasjyot Singh Hans

Jasjyot drew the comment directly on my shared Zoom screen. He was very straightforward, efficient, and gave me very pertinent comments.

Jasjyot直接在Zoom屏幕上用鼠標給 畫出了我修改意見。他非常直接、高 效率，給出的意見特別中肯。

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Diana Chu

Bill Starkey

Julia Breckenreid

Dingding Hu

Dian Holton

Alim Smith

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說實話每次一對一 meeting ，我都沒有把時間安 排得很好。總是花費大量時間在帶藝術家們瀏覽 我的故事上，缺少時間在整體和漫畫技巧方面的 critique 。 這 也 跟 藝 術 家 們 擅 長 的 領 域 各 有 不 同 有關。但也有幾個非常一針見血的藝術家，比如 Dian Chu ， Jasjyot ，他們甚至會直接在 Zoom上跟 我共享屏幕直接修改漫畫內容。除了對我的畢業設 計有反饋之外，也有特別關心我的職業發展的藝術 家，比如Dingding Hu，她甚至還給我郵寄了她的二 手書做參考，Bretcht Evens的The Wrong Place，後 來我的確從他的漫畫裡學到不少技巧。很少有藝術 家會在會議之前把我的漫畫讀完，但最後一個藝術 家，Julia，她說她迫不及待要跟我見面，因為她讀 了兩三遍，對我的漫畫內容已經非常熟悉，印象深 刻到不需要看就能說出幾個細節。後來我給她寄了 我的漫畫作為回謝。

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To be frank, in every one-on-one meeting with guest artists, I didn't have a well-planned schedule. A lot of time was spent on taking the artists through my stories and lacking overall comic critique, which also has to do with the fact that the artists have different fields of expertise. But there were a few artists who were very spot on, like Diana chu, and Jasjyot, who would even share their screens with me directly on Zoom to make the marks.

There were also artists who were particularly interested in my career development, such as Dingding Hu. She mailed me her used book for reference: The Wrong Place by Brecht Evens, from whose comics I made the most of it. Few artists would read my comics before the meeting, but the last one, Julia, she said she couldn't wait to meet me because she had read them two or three times! She was so familiar with the content that could name a few impressive pages without reference. I sent her my comics print copy as a gift in return.

The Wrong Place by Brecht Evens send from Dingding Hu. Dingding給我寄來的書。

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Thesis S ho

w 布個展

布展一直是我比較期待和興奮的事情。因為我可以在布展的過程中嘗試不 同媒介去展示我的漫畫。一開始我是打算整個把我的臥室搬到展廳，想給 觀眾呈現一種非常私密的體驗。但導師Robyn的建議是沒有必要，應該讓 觀眾把重點放在漫畫的“對話”裡，以及我的layout的那種流動性上。也由於 場地和預算考慮，我撤銷了這個想法。後來在final裡面有人提到希望用更 多方式而不只是書籍的format去讓人體驗我的漫畫，首先我想到的是製作 一個可以點擊的臉譜，有點像中國的臉部穴位圖。但後來覺得，首先是技 術上沒有那麼完美的實現方式，第二也是最重要的一點，真的有必要嗎？ 點擊進入一個大屏幕播放我的漫畫，也不一定會吸引更多的人真的去讀。 最後我想的是把preface製作成簡單的動畫，給大家一個採訪的感覺，而且 視頻可以投影在牆上，不用真的動手去畫牆，可以省下更多時間。 同時我也放棄了把皮膚病理打印在不同的物體上的這個idea。如果皮膚病 的紋理出現在像徵著潔淨、光滑、無暇的物體上，比如衛生紙、酒店的白 枕頭、白毛巾這一類的物體，會不會讓人覺得很disturbing？從而懷疑起它 們的潔淨程度。這有點像皮膚病患者被社會污名化的現象。皮膚病很多時 候是基因決定，跟患者的生活習慣、性格、受教育程度都沒有關係。但這 個計劃在未來我希望可以實現。 布展是一個不斷做減法的過程。

The exhibition is always something I am excited about. Because I can experiment with different mediums to show my comics during the installaiton. At first, I was planning to move my entire bedroom into the gallery, trying to give the audience a very intimate experience. But Robyn's said it was unnecessary and the audience should focus on the "conversation" of the comics and the fluidity of my layouts. I withdrew the idea due to venue and budget considerations. Later in the final, Jun Cen mentioned that he wanted more ways for people to experience my comic than just the book format,

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and I came up with the idea of making a clickable face map, sort of like a Chinese face point map. I really liked the statue, but I dropped the idea. Firstly, technically, I didn’t sort out a perfect solution. Most importantly, was it really necessary?

Clicking into a big screen to show my comic wouldn't attract more people to actually read it. I made the preface into a simple animation to give people a sense of the interview, and the video could be projected on the wall, saving more time and energy on murals.

Floor Plan Progress

我們用了半個學期來準備畢業設計的材料。不斷修改floor plan的過程中我也在 刪減可能會遇到技術問題的部分，最終有了一個非常穩妥的方案。因為布展在 春假後，所以我整個春假跟一些同學一起在工作室準備材料。 那段時間我跟 Stella學習瞭如何切割泡沫板並把畫 mount在板子上，我的技藝 變得爐火純青。為了在布展上保證專業，我還 commission了我的策展人朋友 Joyce來幫我提建議。她不但熟悉學校的設備，還親自幫我布展。從她身上我 了解到了更多布展的小技巧，如何定位，如何調整燈光，如何懸掛…… 我有時候 會偷懶放低要求，她卻每次都幫我再精確定位保證每個細節都是專業的。我感 激有這樣一群能督促我不斷提高眼界和要求的朋友們。

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I also gave up the idea of printing dermatopathology on different objects; if the texture of dermatopathy appears on objects that symbolize cleanliness, smoothness, and flawlessness, such as toilet paper, white hotel pillows, and white towels, will it make people feel very disturbing and thus doubt their cleanliness? This is a bit like the social stigmatization of dermatologists. Skin diseases are often genetically determined and have nothing to do with the patient's habits, personality, or education. But this is an exciting direction that I hope to realize in the future.

Exhibition installation is a constant process of subtraction.

We spent half a semester preparing the materials for the final project.

As I kept revising the floor plan, I also cut down the parts that might encounter technical problems, and finally came up with a very solid plan. I and my cohort Stella and Haochen spent the whole spring break in the studio preparing the materials. During that time I learned from Stella how to cut foam cores and mount the paintings on the board. I also commissioned my curator friend Joyce to give advice on how to set up the show professionally. She was not only familiar with the school's facilities but also helped me install most of the exhibition in person. From her, I learned more tips on how to locate the frames, how to adjust the lighting, how to hang ....... I would sometimes be lazy and less professional, but she helped me to make sure every detail was well-executed.

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Left to right: Di Liang, me, Joyce Liang 從左到右：梁荻、我、梁靖詩。

Breeze和Di是分配給我的一年級助手， 同時也是我很好的朋友。 Breeze用她的 壁畫經驗來幫我給牆繪的建議。四面牆 應當看作一個整塊畫布來看，同時觀眾 的視角帶來的透視也會讓人覺得本來很 大的東西看起來會更小。門上的痘痘就 是她的堅持帶來的。我的壁畫是最後才 完成的，之前把畫掛在牆上的時候這裡 還是一個非常乾淨、 clinic 的空間。畫 上牆的皮膚之後，整個空間裡的元素和 色調被統一了。有的同學說我的作品看 起來非常 disturbing ，我覺得這正是我 想要的反饋。

Breeze and Di are my assigned firstyear assistants and good friends.

Breeze used her mural experience to help me plan the mural. Four walls should be viewed as one whole canvas, and the perspective from the viewer's point of view will make something that is already large look smaller. The pimple on the door is a result of her persistence. My mural was the last to be completed. It was a very clean, clinic space when I hung the painting on the wall. After painting the acne mural, the elements and tones in the whole space were consistent. Some students said my work looked very disturbing, and I think that was exactly the feedback I was looking for.

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在屋子中間我放了我的畢業設計漫畫，人只有站在 pedestal 附近才會聽到來自Directional speaker的採訪錄音。我放了四 個人的錄音，總共時長是 6 小時。不過裡面使用的是中文， 對於在這裡的大部分觀眾而言，不能聽懂裡面的內容，但至 少能夠知道我做採訪的狀態。Directional speaker這個細節我 沒有直接提示觀眾，我覺得認真體驗這個空間的人一定會發 現這個公開的秘密。對於沒有聽到或者聽清楚的人來說，就 當是一個白噪音，也沒有什麼損失。 觀察大家在開幕的時候的反應，很多人其實會從右往左走， 而不是跟我預想的一樣從投影開始順時針瀏覽。我想可能 是因為面具和鏡子比較吸引人，而且牆的存在也給人一種 指引。說到 misleading，還有一個發現是有人跟我說在讀第 一個橘子漫畫的時候，他們會從右往左，或者從上往下讀。 我在想可能是因為我直接把跨頁打出來，沒有調整間隙的寬 度，給人造成了誤會。但有的人說這並不影響理解，我也覺 得很神奇。

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In the middle of the room, I put my comic print on a pedestal. Audiences could only hear the recorded interview loop from the directional speaker if one was standing near the pedestal. The total length of the recording was 6 hours. I did not directly remind the audience with this detail of the directional speaker, but I think people who experience this space seriously will definitely find this open secret. For those who did not hear or hear clearly, it is considered white noise, and there is nothing to lose.

Observing people's reactions during the opening, many people would actually walk from right to left instead of browsing clockwise from the projection as I expected. I think it was probably because the masks and mirrors were more attractive, and the presence of the wall also gave people a guide. Speaking of misleading, another discovery was that someone told me that when reading the first orange comic, they would read from right to left, or from top to bottom. I was thinking it might be because I typed out the crossover page directly without adjusting the width of the gap, giving people a misunderstanding. But some people said it didn't affect understanding, which I also thought was amazing.

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Many people walk into the exhibition hall and walk straight to the mask and the mirror. People were very enthusiastic to send pictures with the mask, and everyone might have a different interpretation of it.

許多人走入展廳會徑直走向這個面具 和鏡子。大家非常熱情地發來與面具 的合照，每個人對它的理解或許都不 一樣。

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還有一個最重要的事情， 是我一直沒有告訴過我媽 媽我的畢業設計到底在做 什麼內容，因為我擔心她 看到之後會想讓我刪掉我 畫的關於她臉上的黃褐斑 的故事。所以我在布展完 成之後才跟她用文字溝 通。沒想到她對我說了第 一次“謝謝你理解我”。她 說如果我有需要，其實她 都可以提供。說實話我挺 感動，我覺得這個畢業設 計已經超出我的預期，幫 我達成了很多人際關係上 的和解和對自我的治愈。

It was a laughter-filled 20 minutes Gallery Talk with artist Shadra Strickland and David Plunkert.

Thank you to everyone who sat around in my little room and listened patiently.

Gallery Talk現場。 和藝術家Shadra Strickland David Plunkert 共度了充满笑声的20分钟。 感谢大家围坐在我的小房间里耐心 听完。

Opening! I met Sarah's aunt who loves art.

開幕現場。遇到了熱愛藝術的Sarah 的阿姨。

Last but not the least, I never told my mom exactly what I was working on for my thesis because I was worried that she would want me to delete the story I drew about her after she saw it. So I didn't communicate with her by text until after the installation was finished. I didn't expect her to say "thank you for understanding me" for the first time. She said if I needed anything, she could actually provide it. To be honest, I was quite touched.

I think this graduation project has exceeded my expectations and helped me to achieve a lot of reconciliation and self-healing in my relationships.

My friend Echo left a message to me T^T I was so touched. 我的朋友绿绿給我留言。想哭。

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The mural was not complete until deinstallation has been done.

Sanding, painting the primer and white paint, just like our daily make-up routine. I named this performance art "Recover".

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壁畫痘痘在撤展完畢之後才完整。打 磨、塗牆、恢復白色原貌，像極了我 們對皮膚所做的一切。這個作品我把 它叫做“Recover”。

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luo.co obod www.l oood _b o IG:l_

MICA ILP M FA‘22, love you gu ys.

It was an am azing year.

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MICA ILP M FA‘22, love you gu ys.

It was an am azing year.

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