白蛇傳 | Lady White Snake

Micron pen & Digital

11in*17in

In the Legend of the White Snake, a monk, Fa Hai, believes that it is unethical for the White Snake to fall in love with a human Xu Xian. After instigating Xu Xian to leave the White Snake, Fa Hai imprisons the White Snake, who dares to fight him, under a pagoda for a thousand years. 

The motive of Fa Hai is essentially the same as that of the murderer of the "honor killing," both of whom "punished" others with violence for choosing a lifestyle that was incompatible with their ideas. As a result, I combined the case of honor killing with the story of White Snake, but rather than showing the violence and cruelty of patriarchal society I wanted to illustrate the spirit of struggle. Therefore, I chose to portray the scene of the fight between White Snake and Fahai in the story of  Lady White Snake. In this scene, White Snake and her sister Green Snake together try to defeat Fahai in order to save Xu Xian, who Fa Hai took away. In the original story, White Snake and Green Snake were defeated by Fahai. However, in my illustration, White Snake summons a massive wave while Green Snake holds a sword and together they break down the giant tower, which I designed to look like male genitalia, as it also represents the patriarchal society. Through this illustration, I want to express that even though women are constantly suppressed, as long as we keep fighting for woman’s rights, we will eventually see the day of gender equality. Women will regain ownership of their own bodies and fate.