VoGUE dialogues come from five very different women in the fields of performance, soprano, art, and women's philanthropy – actors Zhu Zhu and Guo Keyu, soprano singer Huang Ying, artist Jiang Jie, and Liang Yu, initiator of "Give Her Companion". Tell the story of what they are doing. These individuals are like slices of time, and the choice of each life inflection point can become a reference. In the face of new life and restart, self-realization and self-examination, loneliness and walking, take the beauty of all beings as a mirror, take that beauty as the spiritual driving force, and continue to move forward.
Knitted coat Fendi
A sense of security that has never been felt before
Zhu Zhu described 2021 as perhaps the best year of her life. Last year, she had seven works aired, and her past hard work has been rewarded one after another. And most importantly, last September, she ushered in a new identity of herself: mother. This brought her a great sense of satisfaction, accomplishment, and a sense of security that she had never felt before. The natural trust of flesh and bone made her feel another kind of steadfastness. "The connection with others may not be long-lasting, but the child comes out of your body, and even if she leaves you, you will love her." 」 With her, you don't have to worry about anything, you can love and give steadily and securely. ”
Zhu Zhu does not particularly agree with "women are weak, but mothers are strong", "I think women are not weak, nor do they have to be more rigid to be mothers." Being a mother is still a person, still has its own seven passions and six desires, and cannot completely put the self in the most humble position and blindly pay. "Becoming a mother is just one more reason to do a lot of things, and she doesn't feel that women have to sacrifice all their egos for it."
Beauty is both salvation and faith
Zhu Zhu has always loved art, and last year she collaborated with Yongle Art Space on an art project to interview artists in the form of videos. At present, Wang Guangle, Zhang Zhanzhan, Yue Minjun and Chen Ke, who have been interviewed, are all artists that Zhu Zhu himself likes. When it comes to the artists/works she likes, Zhu Zhu said that she does not think too much about genres, techniques and other factors. "I like something, out of a sensual level, and if a certain point of it can penetrate deep into my soul, I will like it." 」 In addition to the artists she has interviewed, she also likes Tracy Emin, "she writes women's manifestos in neon lights, and uses 'My Bed' as a metaphor for life. The kind of longing for love, the exploration of sex, the thinking of women, and the exploration of loneliness and life covered in her works, many things can hit me in an instant. ”
Pleated top Issey Miyake
Bandeau skirt piece Maison Sans Titre
Green wide-leg pants Donsee10
High heels Jimmy Choo
Regarding the significance of art to her, Zhu Zhu's first thought was beauty. "I am a particularly beautiful person, I love all things that are beautiful. Beauty is a kind of redemption for me, a kind of healing. I want to be close to these beautiful things, and I want to be beautiful, so I will follow beauty and believe in beauty. ”
Acting is also a way to convey beauty
Looking back at the works that have been broadcast, Zhu Zhu feels that she is very lucky, and many of her roles are very fanatic, such as Li Na in "Elite Lawyer", Lan Xinjie in "Rebel", Lou Shuwan in "Son-in-law", and Ma Suqin in "Children of the Qiao Family". The three-dimensional diversity of these roles also attracts Zhu Zhu, "I don't want to play only one style of people, I don't reject any style." "The complex character impresses her even more." Whether she's a good person or a bad person, as long as she's real and has a certain amount of complexity, I like it. ”
Suit tops, skirts, waistbands, earrings
Both are Alexander McQueen
Whenever a character is killed, Zhu Zhu has to spend some time saying goodbye to "her". "Sometimes [the characters] may not be able to leave me completely. Wherever the water flows, there will be traces of it, and each character has left more or less something on me. "Those roles she has played have finally become one with her, subtly nourishing her real life." She also wants to let her children see all the roles she has played in the future, so the child has become a yardstick for her current choice of roles. "Hopefully I can play a role that makes my child feel very proud, and she will cheer: Wow, this is my mother's role, it's great!"
Green knitted tank tops and pointed toe shoes are Prada
White trousers Chloé
Ring Olio E Aceto
farewell
"I don't actually have the luxury of being warmed by everyone." Before participating in "Goodbye Lover", Guo Keyu had no idea that this show would bring her so much attention. At first, she was very resistant, one is that every woman has an instinct to subconsciously dilute the side of her private life; the other is that she feels that there is less and less sincerity and purity about emotions, "it seems that for emotions, there are a lot of things that don't matter in our current people." "But after talking to the main creative team of the program group many times, she vaguely felt the rare affection and sincerity covered by "Goodbye Lover"." So I think it's still a serious time, a serious time together, a serious goodbye. Facts have proved that Guo Keyu's judgment is correct.
Faced with marriage problems, Guo Keyu has already expressed her attitude in the form of divorce. What remains is to treat each other with 100% sincerity. "Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, not all of them are useless, because of separation and red teeth to accuse, as if it is because others have done wrong to have such an ending, I think this is not possible." 」
comprehensive
For Guo Keyu, marriage never makes people too free. "Pure freedom is only relative. In this relative freedom, don't lose yourself just because you became someone else's child, someone else's parent, or someone else's husband/wife in a relationship. ”
Like most women, Guo Keyu will also defend his relative freedom in marriage, but for those family connections that should have been surrendered, Guo Keyu, who has always cared about emotional temperature, is not rejected. She and her ex-husband's family have a weChat group that walks around each other during the New Year's Festival. After the divorce, the elders are a little more worried. Guo Keyu understood that the elders did not want to see their fate end here, and there would be some regrets or sadness no matter what. But she thinks that the elders in the family are particularly good because they support their children to have their own lives, and as long as the children are determined, they will respect their choices.
Bandeau dress Jacques Wei
set sail
In recent times, Guo Keyu feels that he is back to the state of work ten years ago: he can't tell who he is, and he can't tell which city he woke up in. But she had a long-lost kindness to her. After all, this was a job that she was all too familiar with, and now that she was back, she quickly had her original state. The night before the interview, Guo Keyu was still staying up late in Zhuhai to shoot a big drama, and when the staff told her that it was hard, she thought, this is not hard, she is doing this job, very familiar, very adaptable.
Ms. Guo said she was the kind of student who knew the answer when she was a child but was embarrassed to raise her hand, and now she treats every day as if it were the last. The performance energy that Guo Keyu held in his heart can now be nourished every day. "Acting is actually a process of learning from the past. On set, it's the mule that's coming out for a walk, and then you have some new feelings to confirm to yourself, and I think it's a metabolism. ”
Fortunately, after the restart, Guo Keyu encountered the same type of characters as her, Han Ling in "Eloping Grandmother", Su Rong in "Sanyue Has a New Job", and "A Brief History of the Family" in the newly recruited group. Back on the big screen, the performance healed Guo Keyu and gave her a reason to be bold, telling her "you can". Her description of her relationship with fans was probably the most touching part of the interview that day. "I don't want to disappoint them, but if I try to please them, I'm going to fail them, then my performance must be unclean, and the inside of me doing this must be flattering." I just have to remember that someone likes me, don't let people down, and the rest is to do my part simply and cleanly. ”
In 1995, Huang Ying was selected to play the role of Madame Butterfly in the opera film "Madame Butterfly" directed by French director Frédéric Mitterrand. The actors are auditioned around the world, asian actors account for only a very small number of candidates, and Huang Ying is the last to be selected. In addition to her voice and singing expressiveness, her pronunciation was almost perfect, but in fact, Huang Ying had not learned Italian at all. She herself came step by step, and all the works she wanted to appear in would be retranslated word by word according to her own understanding.
She has always regarded her voice as an instrument, and she has been honing this "instrument" since her studies at conservatory or later performing in theaters around the world. "The voice is a gift condition, but you have to have understanding." She knows that she is taking a "road of no return", and the process of creating "musical instruments" is quite boring, but after ten years of grinding a sword, there is no shortcut to choose.
Khaki trench coat MaxMara
Huang Ying always said that he was "lucky": from entering the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to study under Professor Ge Chaozhi, to just graduating in 1992, he was selected to participate in the International Vocal Competition in Paris, France and won the second place, after starring in the movie "Madame Butterfly", he and the conductor James Kanglong recorded her first solo record with the London Symphony Orchestra, recorded and distributed by Sony Records, all the way down the way. Especially after Bai under Daniel Ferromon in New York, she broke through the bottleneck and made rapid progress. Known as the "master of masters", Ferro was once the teacher of the famous singer Catherine Battle, who believed that Huang Ying not only had a voice line similar to Battle, but also was the most suitable student for his vocal teaching philosophy.
Before Huang Ying had more sopranos, now she is more lyrical, no matter which category, it belongs to the "trumpet". She is best known for her role as "Madame Butterfly", but always believes that it is not her role. "Puccini's opera was originally written for the tuba soprano, and there was no rest in the performance, and it had to be stood on it in all four acts. If I had to sing one or two of these arias, it would be fine, but I wouldn't be able to perform a full-length stage play. ”
As an Asian, it is true that more effort is needed to be recognized when running for a role. She has also encountered unfair phenomena, but in the face of prejudice, she will choose to accept the results first. "It's not a show by yourself." Huang Ying is not angry about this, she knows, it is more important to prove herself with strength, "You are better, more distinctive, and more convincing than others." ”
Printed dress Fendi
Although the soprano is a western way of performing, Huang Ying's representative works also include Chinese repertoire such as "Peony Pavilion" and "The Legend of the White Snake". Even with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, she felt that "the same thing", music knows no borders, and all works ultimately express the common themes of human beings: love and hope.
"I have always followed the principle that no matter what work, no matter what language, it ultimately expresses truth, goodness and beauty." Tan Dun tailored "Peony Pavilion" for Huang Ying, and she sang in English in New York. "When I was doing data research, I found that Tang Xianzu completed this work in 1598, and it was almost the Baroque period, which was actually interchangeable." She added some Jingkun opera singing voices to the classical Western singing method, supplemented by Baroque decorative sounds, "that is, the combination of Chinese and Western, in the final analysis, you are immersed in the culture." ”
Nowadays, "Huang Ying" has become one of the most recognized names for soprano singers and even in the field of opera, and she wants to use her influence to drive more people to understand opera, spread and inherit this art. "I have this responsibility. Now working at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, under the premise of maintaining my true colors, I have the passion to open my own 'new side', live well, teach well, and create well. ”
The work is the sum of all experiences Just like the "Eureka Moment" of the ancient Greek philosopher Archimedes, the artist Jiang Jie's reflections on the volume of matter and the divine descent of inspiration when he created "Greater than a Ton and a Half" were also reflected in himself. At the beginning of 2022, Jiang Jie recalled the creative process of this masterpiece, saying that at that time, it seemed that there was a divine revelation, although it was only vaguely known what to do, but there was no hesitation and blockage in the process, "It was a kind of water and water", she described it as follows.
At first glance, "Greater than a Ton and a Half" is somewhat ugly and distorted, the volume and weight of "one and a half tons" in the title are obvious (actually about 3 tons), its appearance is wrapped in gauze, some lace is also embedded in the surface, and the iron hook is used as a finishing touch, forming a kind of flesh-like pull and wrestling, folds are born here, the whole work is like an aggregate of aging and death, but it is hung by a lighter but immersed pain, showing a deep paradoxical and poetic charm.
Jiang Jie clearly regards "Greater than a Ton and a Half" as a new stage in her creative career, and the previous experience is like a prelude, which summarizes her previous creations. This is consistent with the point she often refers to – "the work is the sum of all my experiences". At that time, it was exactly 20 years before Jiang Jie's first solo exhibition.
Black blazer Prada
White top Oude Waag
Silver ring Olio E Aceto
A dialogue between life and reality
Jiang Jie first received strict academy sculpture training, and after graduation, he was employed by the Sculpture Research Institute of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Her true creative heart sprouted between the conflicts and contradictions between the ivory tower and the outside world, not only the desire for contemporary creation, but also the heart when she first left the campus and faced the rapid changes in society. She soon realized that the traditional skills she had learned were difficult to connect with the upsurge of social life at that time, so the wind from the present world began to blow into Jiang Jie's creations.
In the early 90s of last century, family planning and abortion were frequently mentioned in people's lives, and Jiang Jie felt something from it, and he also knew that there were some things that touched his heart. It was not until 1993 that Jiang Jie made dolls for a factory and ushered in the opportunity.
"That's a weak but unique sense of life," Mr. Jiang said. She began to make small baby sculptures and expressed her feelings, as well as the fragile, fragile relationships between people, in the medium of "baby". In 1994, Jiang Jie did his first solo exhibition at the gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, in which "Fragile Products", "The Appearance of Life" and "Relative Fusion" are all works made in the form of infants. In the period after that, Jiang Jie used his creation to solve similar problems. For example, "Parallel Men and Women", created in 1996, uses classical methods to make models, using gauze and wax to shape gender, muscles and bones. In the later work "They Know Their Identity", the shaping of small animals is also very similar to the reproduction of real existence, but it cannot be replaced by ready-made products, and only the flesh and blood, bone and spirit created can make the empowerment and disappearance of life, the damage and recovery of flesh become meaningful.
Although political depictions in a broad sense tend to weaken the creator's playfulness with materials and matter in works of art, Jiang Jie still sees feminism as a way to broaden the latitude. "If there is no feminism, it will be relatively simple, whether it is the angle of thinking about the problem, the angle of observing things, the ability to reflect things, and the use of materials, you will be missing this part." 」 She said.
Jiang Jie's recent work, "What Year Is This Evening", is an aria about the timing of the moon and the lunar calendar, which is easy to think of the disorder of time in the present. Some people want to go back to before 2019, some people hope that time will pass quickly, and people's time will be divided into different formats such as 48-hour nucleic acid test reports and 14-day isolation.
Jiang Jie described that she is now unloading her "shell", in the studio, she enjoys the state of creating a full moon, full of water and overflow, more step-by-step than the writer's "automatic writing", more free than the spirit of Dionysus.
Two years ago, a question on Weibo brought Liang Yu into the public eye. From the "Sister Epidemic Relief Action" to the "Menstrual Peace of Mind Action", this post-95 girl and the public welfare team she led "gave her a walk", like an initiator, with their own actions to promote women's public welfare undertakings forward. Behind being seen, discussed, and concerned is a heart that wants to change.
Long marathon
The day before the shooting, Liang Yu organized an offline conversation in Shanghai that "give her a walk". During the exchange session, a lady who came to the event directly shed tears when she got up to speak. "She just gave birth, ended breastfeeding for two months, returned to the workplace, and faced a lot of problems. She pushed a lot of things to participate in this conversation that day, just to find some female strength, which can support her strength. ”
Such a moment is also the driving force for Liang Yu to persist in the past two years.
Black print top Tommy Zhong
The gray short suit and suit trousers are judy Hua
Female power is no longer a slogan, but a more real action and companionship, with real temperature and shape.
Back to the difficult moment of the winter and spring in 2020, the new crown pneumonia epidemic spread in China, in the face of the struggle against the epidemic, Liang Yu did something that she may not have thought of herself: in order to help the frontline female medical staff solve the problem of insufficient physiological supplies, in 35 days, she and her team will 613305 pair of safety pants, 320883 disposable underwear, 160776 sanitary napkins, 10852 hand creams, to 205 hospitals or medical teams. It has covered more than 84,500 female medical workers fighting against the epidemic.
That's the beginning, not the end.
Liang Yu and the team have been taking continuous actions: from the end of the epidemic in Hubei to the outbreak of the local epidemic in early 2021, continue to donate relevant materials to Hebei and Tonghua areas; during the flood in Henan in 2021, actively contact materials and call on brands to carry out targeted and even province-wide free distribution; pay attention to the "menstrual dilemma", launch the "menstrual peace of mind action", raise materials for girls in schools in economically underdeveloped areas, and lead the volunteer team into the mountains to teach girls physiological health knowledge lessons. 239,000 tablets of menstrual supplies were delivered to 14 remote mountain schools, 2,193 girls were helped, and lectures on adolescent growth were held in 9 schools; mutual aid box activities were launched to carry out women's mutual aid love relays, and nearly 500 colleges and universities installed sanitary napkin mutual aid boxes...
"We have two working principles, one is that what we are doing is not to win the Nobel Prize, not to challenge the intellectual divide, but to face what may be a harder job, send a hundred emails to the outside world, and maybe get an effective reply." Second, we can't get rid of women's identity and stance, and many projects can't be said to completely give up and stop not doing, that is a marathon. ”
"In this way, there is nothing we cannot do, and unless we are turned off, there is no reason why we cannot do it."
Tip of the iceberg
The action of "walking with her" has never stopped at the surface, and may only be the tip of the iceberg that can be glimpsed.
Touched by the "Li Xingxing" case, Liang Yu initiated the collection of data on sexual assault of Chinese women. Over the course of more than a year, she and her team collected more than 8,500 real cases of girls being sexually assaulted and consolidated them into a database. This database is not a release project open to the outside world, but through the efforts of the team, as an internal reference, layer by layer.
This project, because of the complexity of the content involved, could not be analyzed by the program, but was handled by the project team of "Give Her Companion" to each person to deal with more than ten cases per day. "We wrote the internal reference report to the government departments of many countries, put forward very clear suggestions for the revision of the Chinese Women's Development Program and the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, and called for the protection of women's rights and interests. Liang Yu said.
Printed maxi dress Tirtoirs
Lace black shirt Vecco Zhao
Off-white blazer Sportmax
Reconcile with yourself
When asked about the biggest changes he has experienced in the past two years of devoting himself to public welfare, Liang Yu replied that he is "so tired". You can see that this is her true words.
In addition to devoting himself to women's public welfare undertakings, Liang Yu is also an ordinary office worker, and he also faces the problem of energy distribution, "I once calculated that I had to work an average of 105 hours a week for 168 hours. And time is fair, what Liang Yu can do, like others, compress the rest time that was originally his own, and working until two or three o'clock in the morning to sleep is a norm."
Becoming the person being concerned is not in Liang Yu's plan.
At the beginning of the "Sisters Campaign Peace of Mind", Liang Yu initially refused to be interviewed. In the end, under the persuasion of the team, Liang Yu stood in front of the stage and spoke for the project. And the facts also confirmed her prediction. On Weibo, she continued to speak out about women's issues, and while gaining kindness and support, she also suffered a lot of malice, insults, and even attacks.
"Harm is going to exist objectively. In the midst of a high-intensity vortex of information, it's hard to escape it all. I am grateful to all of you and cherish your shared vision. In the face of these great loves and trusts, dissolving or not dissolving becomes less important. Liang Yu said, "I hope that the sisters behind me know that not only am I bearing and working hard; I also hope that they know that there are many sisters running and working hard for the beautiful life of strange sisters who will never meet." ”
*Text has been slightly abridged, see the full version
Fashion & Beauty VOGUE, March 2022
edit:
Zhang Jing Mia Zhang, Zhu Fan Juvan Zhu
Writing:
Li Bingqing (Huang Ying), Xi Bei (Guo Keyu, Zhu Zhu),
Li Jingyue (Jiang Jie), Liang Yu (Zhu Fan)
Guo Keyu Jiang Jie
Photographer: Zhao Hua
STYLIST: Danney Li Dani Lee
Co-ordinator PRODUCER: Guo Yuenu Summer Guo
Makeup MAKEUP: Wang Min
Hairstyle HAIR: Gao Peng
Fashion Assistants: Jialin Wang
Huang Ying Zhu Zhu
Photographer: Ren Haihua
STYLIST: Dany Lee Danney Li
Executive Producer LINE PRODUCER: Kaka Caroline Shen
Same with Josh Tong
Makeup MAKEUP: Talk about Mona
Hairstyle: Jenny Niu
Liang Yu
Photographer: Xu Xiaowei
STYLIST: Michelle Zhao
Co-ordinator Producer: Summer Guo Guo Yuenu
Executive Producer LINE PRODUCER: Cao Ran
Art SET DESIGN: Wanjin
Makeup: Jonathan Yang
Hairstyle HAIR: Zi Yue
Fashion Assistants: Alli Chou, Lu Chongran
WeChat Art: Roland