囚/The Cage
Yihan Xu
@linda_xuyh
The photo is surrounded by buildings as if representing the towering heights of the capital. A person in the middle can represent anyone trapped in a city. The composition is a reference to the Chinese word for "囚".
This character looks like a square enclosing an object. The word '人' in the middle means person in Chinese, and the word means trapped, which is used, for example, in the case of prisoners（囚犯） and cages（囚笼）. So, this work, like the word, appears to be a person surrounded by buildings on all sides, like a prisoner trapped in the cage of the city. What traps the characters is the equality that cannot be found in the city, the respect that cannot be gained in the city without status, and the plight that without wealth, one is inferior. Wealth and status make it impossible to obtain equality for all in the true sense of the word, and a raised skyscraper embodies these abstract rights.
