Yuchen He

Seed and Eye (睋(é),種子) examines how beauty standards shape the identity of East Asian women through a 4-minute silent video showing only images of eyes. The work comes from He’s own experience of growing up with socially encoded rules about how a woman should look and act. In many situations, she found herself carefully adjusting her gestures in order to please an imagined viewer, hoping to receive approval or affirmation. In those moments, the power of looking did not belong to her. The work asks if personal choices are truly free or if they are shaped by an invisible social pressure. 

Yuchen He is an artist based in New York City whose work explores identity, memory, and cultural inheritance. Working across photography and installation, she focuses on femininity, visibility, and personal history.