“We Come for the Fantasy, We Stay for the Reality”, A Conversation with Wudi Tan

Sofia:
If you want to begin by introducing yourself and any other details you feel like you want to share, just to start things off?

Wudi:
My name is Wudi. Like the Toy Story character Woody. I'm also Chinese. My bachelors degree is in film directing, and from that, I gained a lot of technical skills, as film is a very technical medium.

Sofia:
What informs your creative process now?

Wudi:
I feel eager to create something but I need to find a topic that I can relate to. It's always about identity. Of course, I'm queer, and in China I'm a little bit different, even kind of weird because I wear women's clothes. I think it's interesting to explore different parts of queer culture and that inspires my work. I feel like it's kind of my duty to say something because nowadays, within the queer community, there's still a lot of difficulties and it's kind of a rush for me to speak on behalf of myself and the community. For example, the first film I did was called “The Great Phallus”, inspired by the pornography industry. I did some research on consumer data and almost every year, “big dick” is the top category people search for. I kind of feel like the male penis as a symbol of power cultivates our mindset, so we’re always looking for something bigger and always searching for power.

Still from Great Phallus, directed by Wudi Tan

My second film is also about gay porn, because as a gay person, I don't watch heterosexual or “normal” porn. I started my research from the same data & statistics on people’s habits. I think pornhub did the research 5 or 6 years ago, where straight male porn is always the number one category searched for in gay porn. So I find it's kind of like brainwashing in a way. In a very subtle way, because no one talks about it.

Still from Straight's war, directed by Wudi Tan

Also, when I did my research, I found out there are some porn companies that hire straight people to act in gay porn. Maybe because there's less restriction and the actors can say, oh, I just did it for pay. Whereas, if a gay man did gay porn, it would force him to come out. In the gay community, everyone watches porn, therefore, everyone will know you’re a porn star. But if you are a straight man that does gay porn, no one will know. Also, I think for the audience, it's a whole genre in itself. The way that people in the queer community are also conditioned to enjoy watching straight people. I think in the queer community, we admire too much the idea of looking straight or being “straight passing”.

Sofia:
IFM does a lot of collaborations with considerably commercial brands, like Ami. How do you balance the creative side and wanting to create work that reflects your personal taste with the more commercial aspect?

Wudi:
I think I’ve changed my mind recently. At first I always felt like fashion is a mix between art and business, but recently I feel like art is art and business is just business. When I work for a brand, it's for money, and I need to adjust my taste. Brands hire you and use your ideas for their uniqueness, not because you made something similar to what the brand has already done. For example, we did a collaboration with Ami last year in our magazine workshop and Ami is always about happiness and friendship. But I remember Alexandre Mattiusi, the creative director, said during the brief that they cherish authenticity. Authenticity to me is a big word, it means reality, and friendship is not always about happiness. Sometimes it's about sadness. So, I related my emotional and conceptual approach to the project. I recently experienced a sad moment where I had to say goodbye to a good friend. I just started with this and developed an editorial called, “We are friends, we were friends”, to talk about the fragility of saying goodbye. I think nowadays, at IFM, I’m finding a good balance between what I want to see and what the brand wants to see.

Sofia:
Is there any concept or emotion that you would love to try and capture in your work, but don’t know where to begin and/or how to execute it?

Wudi:
I mean everyone has their limitations for sure. For example, nowadays I'm developing my own magazine for my graduation project called “Proud, Mostly”. In general, the book has to convey a certain topic, and has to be deep enough. The dilemma for me is that I’ve already chosen the visual identity, a kind of fragile, documentary style approach but sometimes I have crazy ideas that I want to do but the visual approach is completely different. So I have to cut it out and leave it to the side to revisit in the future because it’s too different from the visual identity. I feel like the work has to be simple enough to convey a certain message to the audience. I don't want anything to disrupt or distract people. I also feel it's about the budget. As of now, I don't have a sponsor. My parents are my sponsors. And fashion is not cheap, at all. So it becomes a hierarchical thing because there's a lot of things I want to do, but I don’t have the time or money. You have to give up something. But, of course, you have a lot of things to do so it's okay.

"Proud, Mostly Magazine" by Wudi Tan, IG : @Proud_mostly_magazine

Sofia:
Do you find restrictions to be creatively inspiring? Or do you just find it restrictive?

Wudi:
Yes. For example, the restrictions I mentioned before, with the magazine. Because of these restrictions, I need to cut a lot out. But in a way, after I cut these things out, it makes my work even stronger because now it speaks in one tune. Another restriction is the language barrier. I come from China, and in Chinese, I can create something really psychological with a lot of deep material. Since moving to Paris, I feel sometimes it's hard for people to understand the metaphors I use. Chinese is a very high context language so you need a lot of background knowledge to understand certain things. However, it’s not a bad thing. Not speaking English has forced me to cut down and make things simple. I feel that in Chinese, sometimes I use a lot of metaphors to hide the reality that I don't know or don't know what I'm saying. You can use a lot of beautiful wording and poetic sayings to hide your fears. But in English, I'm forced to speak in a very sharp way and every time I say something, it has to make sense.

Transfer, photo by Wudi Tan

Sofia:
Do you have any inspirations right now, or references? What inspires your work?

Wudi:
These days I really love photography. I think it's also a new era where I’ve decided I want to focus more on photography than video. I think photography is something where you need to be direct and make it precise. It's a very simple art, not like video, where you have different layers. Recently, I really love documentary photography. It's not a new approach, but I feel that now people are looking for something authentic and real, not just like a happy party kind of Donatella Versace image. No longer talking about fantasy, but instead about everyday life. The real world.

"Romeo f**ck me" photo by Wudi Tan

Sofia:
It's interesting since you came into fashion through fantasy.

Wudi:
I think many of us do, and then we stay for the reality.

Sofia:
Speaking of fantasy, are you a dreamer? And have you had any dreams lately that you remember?

Wudi:
I think I mostly have panic attacks in my dreams about my final project. Recently, I haven’t had that many dreams. I watched Past Lives by Celine Song recently and I remember Greta Lee’s partner in the film said that sometimes Greta will speak in Korean in her dreams, but her partner never understands. I kind of feel that will be my future. I mean, sometimes misunderstanding can also be beautiful.

"Find Water", directed by Wudi Tan

Find more works at wuditan.fr