The Seventh Door is a series of layered coloured-pencil and toner illustrations created in response to Charles Perrault’s folktale Bluebeard. The “Seven doors” in the story have been transformed into allegorical family scenes: chairs, cabinets, beds, washing machines, dressing tables, sofas, and wardrobes. They are both everyday furniture and “invisible cages”, symbolizing the disciplined situation of women in marriage and family.

This creative inspiration comes from my mother’s 28-year marital experience and childhood memories of growing up in my parents’ furniture store. For me, furniture symbolizes “home” and order, hinting at women’s disciplined position in the family and society.

I use “furniture – door – dancer’s body” as the narrative carrier to present the tension of “the body is space”. Through the layering technique of colored pencils and pastel, explore the critical state between “confinement” and “self-redemption”. The interweaving of the body and furniture reveals the situation where women are forced to hide and struggle within family and social structures. In the imagery of the “Seventh Door”, I hope to convey the “power to open the door” – women do not need to wait for redemption passively, but can actively choose to awaken and save themselves.