Weina Li’s art practice celebrates human’s passion in pursuit of unconventional love. In The Butterfly of Styx River (2019), the artist intertwines her love trajectory with romantic stories from both eastern and western literary traditions. Her unique storytelling is underscored by her voluptuous artwork all handmade by herself. In the beginning, this series of work was named as “Don’t be ashamed of love.” It includes four stories: No.1 Zao Lian, No.2 Sex, No.3 The Butterfly of Styx River, and No.4 Love God Don Juan. Through those stories, Weina attempts to map up the small image of a variety of contemporary love forms, not limited by gender, age, sexualities, and sexual activities. With a shared theme about insisting self against social norms, each story uncovers the inner struggles of those love chasers from different dimensions who seems fearless. The symbolic and theatrical video form also enables the artist to examine more subtle emotional layers. Through The Butterfly of Styx River, she celebrates self-assurance, devotion, tragic beauty in love.
