1. Project Overview：
Exhibition Title: Invisible Load—The Boundary Between Gazing and Being Gazed Upon
Venue: Summer Hall Sciennes Gallery
Dates: May 4–8, 2026 (5 days) 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Lead image:
Fig 1 :Poster for the exhibition “Invisible Load—The Boundary Between Gazing and Being Gazed Upon”
2. Curatorial Narrative：
“Invisible Load” is a contemporary art exhibition centered on the female perspective, and it also represents a profound social dialogue. Through various artistic forms such as photography, video, and installation art, it presents key issues such as gender roles, domestic labor, body discipline, and social expectations. It reveals the inner anxiety and unease of women, showcases their struggles and resistance in the face of social expectations, and deeply explores how women construct and reshape their identities within the constraints of social expectations and the gaze. It attempts to break through the long-standing gender stereotypes.
These pressures faced by the women usually do not manifest in the form of dramatic events; instead, they exist in various aspects of life in a continuous and repetitive manner. Over time, they gradually evolve into internal feelings of anxiety, unease, and self-doubt.The exhibition space is divided into multiple narrative areas, adopting a “multi-theme/ non-linear” structure, regarding women’s anxiety as a state group formed by multiple social, cultural, and visual mechanisms, rather than a single narrative. By constructing a multi-part space framework, from implicit domestic labor to the gaze mechanism, and to the construction of identity and women’s anxiety, it gradually guides the audience to immerse themselves in the exhibition, making these intangible yet persistent pressures visualized. Through audience participation messages, it encourages the public to incorporate their own experiences into the narrative, forming a collective archive of public participation. It is hoped that through the power of art, it can trigger social reflection, encouraging more and more women to bravely break free from constraints and rediscover their own value, writing their own stories with a freer and stronger mindset.
3. Artists and Artworks
Artist：Olga Steinepreis
Olga Steinepreis is an artist who primarily uses photography as her creative medium. Her works reflect on motherhood and childhood through self-portraits and photos of family members. At the same time, she combines her personal experiences to explore issues such as identity, sense of belonging, the conflict between ideal and reality in motherhood, and the position of women in contemporary society. Her related series of works employ photography, surrealism, and digital technology to transform her ideas into reality, not only reflecting the current social reality but also encouraging women to reflect on their own identities.
Artwork: I’ve Had a Dream…
This series is a ongoing photography project. Through surreal self-portraits and processed images, the artist explores the pressures faced by female characters and the issues of identity. In these photos, both the heavy domestic chores she is confronted with and her longing for her past self and her dreams are depicted.These works reflect the expectations placed on mothers in today’s society and showcase the conflict between reality and dreams. They express in a visual way, the heavy burden of family life, the increasing responsibilities, and the intangible pressure endured as a “perfect mother”.
Fig 2 : Photographic work I’ve Had A Dream…(2023)
Fig 3 : Photographic work I’ve Had A Dream…(2023)
Artwork: “My Mother Doesn’t Work”
This work originated from an accidental statement made by the artist’s son, revealing the social perception that the daily labor of housewives is often overlooked and not regarded as “true work”. This photograph captures the repetitive actions of a housewife, with no complete face in the picture. It emphasizes the invisibility of “the body and labor”, triggering reflections on gender division of labor and the value of labor, and revealing the “invisibility” and neglected value of women’s labor.
Fig 4 : Photographic work “My Mother Doesn’t Work”(2024)
Fig 5 : Photographic work “My Mother Doesn’t Work”(2024)
Artist: Eryao Zhang
She is a current graduate student in contemporary art practice at the University of Edinburgh. Her works often combine installations and videos, focusing on the way the female body is observed and disciplined within the social structure. She is skilled in using various art media to challenge the long-standing stereotypes imposed on women by society, and to explore the position of the female body in the social order as well as the pressures it bears.
Artwork: Woman Lying on the Lawn
A naked woman was lying on the grass, and was “discovered” by a group of neatly dressed individuals. This installation showcases the female as an object of observation, and these people represent the observers and researchers. It directly echoes Laura Mulvey‘s male gaze mechanism (Mulvey,2013) —transforming the female body into a display item and making it an open matter. However, this artist has reversed the proportions: the female body is enormous, while the observers are so small they are like dust; revealing that the female body loses its subjectivity in the face of social order and becomes a certain existence defined and handled by others.
Fig 6 : Installation “Woman Lying on the Lawn”
Artwork: Regurgitate
This is a work about the “myth of reproduction”. It is a mechanical puppet device, and the display scenes and shooting process are all recorded. It de-materializes the real process of female reproduction and uses fairy tales to conceal the reality of the female body. In this device, the disappearance and reappearance of the baby is not a one-time event, but a cyclical process, symbolizing that the female identity is allowed to emerge and be pushed back within social norms, as well as the activation and fading of the mother role in specific situations.
References：
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema.” In The sexual subject, pp. 22-34. Routledge, 2013.
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