Purity
Meini He
There are often tragic news reports of people who commit suicide because of the tremendously aggressive harassment they encounter online. This abuse and bullying is not only aimed at public figures and celebrities, people of all walks of life have experienced this type of vitriol. For example, one will be criticized by whole social media platforms if one is caught refusing to give up their seat to a pregnant woman; if someone makes a rude comment questioning a doctor; if the weak speaks, the other party must be an overbearing power. Sometimes what you see may not be accurate, because you cannot guarantee whether the information you get is accurate, complete or one-sided, and your impulsive, seemingly righteous comment may contribute irreversible harm to the innocent person over something trivial. Your individual comment may not seem like a big deal, but when it’s one of thousands of comments, it becomes an amorphous cloud of hate that suffocates the light out of someone.
Purity is a series of art photographs that use metaphor to illustrate the power of words. My goal is to push people to think more carefully and thoughtful before they react to any kind of subject matter or people, and when posting any comment, question ourselves first if our words and deeds will burden or hurt others, so as to be cautious and be responsible for ourselves and others.