My Beautiful Shadows – Yiwen Yao

My Beautiful Shadows

My Beautiful Shadows is about memory and the rediscovery of myself from the past to the present. It also contemplates a metaphorical relationship between interior spaces and a state of mind. The inner and the outer; darkness and light are dualities in my own existence. The shadows on the wall reflect the darkness in my heart. However, my exploration of the shadow is not only to retain the sorrow and doubt, but also to highlight a greater appreciation of the positive. As the work has developed, the shadows cast in my room have emerged with new meaning. This creates a metaphor for beauty in nature that grows out of darkness into light as if rediscovering the meaning of life itself. The trees and flowers in the images not only represent the shapes of memories, but also relate to the Chinese philosophy of maintaining a natural state of mind.

Yiwen Yao

After graduating in Beijing at Shifan University in China in 2000, Yiwen Yao emigrated to Australia in 2003.

From 2004-2006 she achieved a “ Diploma of Arts-applied photography” at North Melbourne Institute Tafe, Melbourne, Australia.

Since 2007 she is undertaking “Bachelor of Arts-Fine Art Photography” at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

“My driving force of taking photo is that I always seek to clarify my relationship with the world, either inner world or outer world. Photography gives me the freedom to express and explore, at the same time, it fulfills the life purpose for me, as I believe any form of art could be a universal language to communicate one human being to anther.”