2024 CAFA Graduation Season | Xu Nan: Accept differences and embrace the most authentic self

TEXT:CAFA ART INFO    DATE: 2024.6.11

On May 1, 2024 CAFA Graduation Season was officially unveiled at CAFA Art Museum. Just as the theme “Direction of the Heart” contains good wishes and sincere expectations for Class of 2024 at CAFA, 2024 CAFA Graduation Season does not only contain their art achievements,  their enthusiasm and perseverance in creation are also reflected, which further conveys the imagination and expectations of young students as they embark on the road to the future.

03 The Cover of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror.jpgThe Cover of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror09 Exhibition View of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror at CAFA Art Museum.JPGExhibition View of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror at CAFA Art Museum

That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror

By Xu Nan from School of City Design at CAFA

I got inspired by the relationship between the Ego and Id, and the protagonist in this work is also based on my own experience. In the current social environment, the shape of “Ego” is formed in the collisions with the world. I believe that the shape of “Ego” is not absolute. No matter what your personality and attitude towards things are, there is no absolutely good or bad. You must learn to accept the most authentic Ego.

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05 That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror.jpg08  Inner Pages of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror.jpg

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06 Inner Pages of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror.jpgInner Pages of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror

This picture book tells the story of the protagonist Xingxing who explores in her own world, encounters a mirror, and starts a little adventure with herself in the mirror. One of them likes liveliness, the other likes quietness, and they finally transcended the barrier of mirror and accepted each other. This work is intended to express the duality of human personality, as well as how to deal with the relationship between the Ego and the Id, and to accept the most authentic self. The “mirror” is applied to the symbolic language in this picture book, as I intend to explore the expression and creation of the concept of “self-awareness” in picture books, and to think about the conceptual transformation of symbolic techniques in the creation of picture books.

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 Exhibition View of That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror at CAFA Art Museum17 Xu Nan was working on That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror..JPGXu Nan was working on That Day, I Met Myself in the Mirror.Courtesy of Xu Nan, edited by CAFA ART INFO.