‘homesick’: using design as a social commentary on china’s deprivation of individual freedom

‘homesick’ by YUUE: on the deprivation of freedom in china

‘Homesick’ by design studio YUUE is a social commentary on China’s extreme Covid-19 prevention strategies that led to an unnecessary humanitarian crisis, depriving citizens of their freedom. Since the outbreak, progressive antivirus measures known as the ‘Zero-Covid Policy’ have swept the whole country and invaded everyone’s life: the ubiquitous use of health codes, exhaustive contact tracing, shutting down of borders, forced testing and quarantine, locking down cities and fencing up resident buildings… ‘Antivirus campaigns like these not only deprive citizens of freedom but also completely isolate the country from the rest of the world, leaving itself unrecognizable,’ states the studio. 

Responding to the dire situation, Weng Xinyu, founder of YUUE, repurposes the white hazmat suit with blue ribbons using a chair and a vase — creating a vivid metaphor that silently comments on the country’s absurd reality in the form of design. 

wrapping symbolic chinese objects with the ‘opressive’ white hazmat suit 

YUUE (see more here) chose a Ming-style chair and a traditional Chinese porcelain vase as cultural symbols and wrapped them tightly in a tailored protective suit. For Xinyu, the project hits close to home; as a German citizen of Chinese descent, he’s unable to visit his family throughout the pandemic. Homesickness and resentment therefore started feeding onto each other, pushing him to translate these emotions into an absurd design. 

Ultimately, ‘Homesick’ evokes how the act of ‘protection’ has become a new ‘hazard’ under today’s policy. When the virus itself can be eliminated with simpler and more effective means, insisting on using an airtight protective suit becomes unnecessary, and extreme. ‘At this time, the essential is replaced by the excessive, and the person to be protected loses importance,’ concludes YUUE. 

image © Joshua Jara