PART MACHINE / PART GIRL
2022
part machine / part girl is a wire-o bound publication featuring a collection of poetry by Franny Choi as well as a series of lenticular prints loosely following the story of a cyborg servant girl who becomes sentient and seeks revenge on her makers and keepers who have mistreated her. In the end she aims to forge her own identity and purpose away from the systems and constructs that held her.
Franny Choi’s poems are an exploration of race, gender, and the intersections of technology and the human body. She alludes to Asian depicted cyborg women in movies and manga and how the functions of these characters reflect real life power dynamics and the objectification and abjectification of Asian women.
In science fiction media, Asian cultures and characters (if there are any) are frequently used for world building and/or as plot devices. These tropes are othering, fetishizing and xenophobic rather than complimentary. I was inspired by Choi rewriting the narrative to allow revenge and reclamation into these characters and their stories.