This work draws on Antigone, the ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles, as both a conceptual and visual point of departure. In the original play, Antigone acts against patriarchal law and state authority in the name of natural ethics and familial bonds. Her defiance is not merely political but marks the emergence of an independent subjectivity within a collapsing and re-forming system of power, one that exposes the fragility of patriarchal order through her sacrifice.
Here, Antigone is relocated into an East Asian context, where the roles of women—especially as mothers and daughters—have often been reduced to figures of endurance and obedience within patriarchal narratives. By placing Antigone within the imagery of flowing water and melancholia, the work reimagines her as a contemporary emotional and existential condition, reflecting on the artist’s own position within structures of gender, family, and obligation.