INVISIBLE HANDS / VISIBLE HANDS

In the project ‘INVISIBLE HANDS / VISIBLE HANDS,’ I draw upon the metaphor of ‘invisible hands,’ initially coined by Adam Smith in his book ‘The Wealth of Nations’ to describe unobservable market forces. In my work, I repurpose this metaphor to symbolize the concealed ideologies that compel women to conform to ideal beauty standards within consumerism and marketing, from television advertisements to posters in elevators within apartments and shopping malls in mainland China.

These ‘invisible hands,’ representing ideologies, manifest as ‘visible hands,’ belonging to women themselves, surgeons, or anyone involved, physically altering women’s appearances. The once-hidden societal ideals of female beauty materialize as visible impulses driving changes in women’s bodies.