The Image of Oneself Seen Through the Eyes of the Others : The Works of Yang Fudong and Isaac Julien
The technique of using the perspective of the "The Others" has been used continuously after modernity, in order to draw a more in depth image of one self. The other cannot be positioned without positioning the self and our own subjectivity because the self is more well defined through the other. Like the unquestionable 'Cogito' of Decartes, without a foundation of the self, 'other' cannot be established. The unquestionable 'Cogito' of Decartes, and problems of the subjectivity or problems of 'other' in East Asian society have close relations westernization and sharing western ideas of modernity. Image of ourselves after modernity cannot escape from 'orientalism' which divide the world into the occident and the orient. Modernity of the west was a process of developing a paradigm of life different from the medieval period, and also discovering properties of themselves through "otherising" the East. Therefore for the West, modernity becomes a continuous arena for overcoming paradoxes of their own. However for many North East Asian countries, modernity is a rupture. The text examines how different methods of two different backgrounds tackle the issues regarding "The Others"- works of Eastern and Western contemporary artists, Yang Fudong and Isaac Julien.