The Outsider
STATUS
TYPE
GENRE
MEDIA
DATE
LOCATION
TYPE
GENRE
MEDIA
DATE
LOCATION
Finished
Ready to make books
Book Illustration
#Literature Illustration
#Classic
#Serious
Coloured Pencil
Pastel
07/2021 - 01/2022
Beijing, China
Ready to make books
Book Illustration
#Literature Illustration
#Classic
#Serious
Coloured Pencil
Pastel
07/2021 - 01/2022
Beijing, China
This project originates from my personal experiences during high school and my ongoing engagement with Albert Camus’ The Outsider. Within a high-pressure educational environment, I experienced a persistent disjunction between external expectations and my internal perception. This sense of estrangement gradually evolved into continuous self-observation and reflection, prompting me to examine the individual’s position within predefined social structures and how one negotiates the relationship between societal norms and the self.
The detached stance embodied by Meursault in The Outsider, along with his distance from social conventions, led me to reconsider the notion of being an “outsider.” Rather than signifying indifference or withdrawal, it can be understood as a mode of existence that maintains direct perception of reality while resisting complete alignment with established value systems. Camus’ concept of “zero-degree writing,” characterized by restraint, minimal mediation, and the preservation of raw experience, has further informed my approach to visual expression.
In my practice, I attempt to translate this sense of restrained authenticity into a visual language. By combining pencil, pastel, and colored pencil, I construct an image state that exists between clarity and ambiguity: the diffused qualities of pastel introduce unstable boundaries and a sense of perceptual haze; colored pencil is used to articulate structure and detail; while pencil marks retain a handwritten, tactile quality, allowing the image to carry a sense of temporality and uncertainty.
In terms of narrative structure, I reorganized the content into eighteen segments, divided into two parts, allowing each image to function independently while also forming a continuous sequence when viewed as a whole. At the same time, the composition and lighting of the images are informed by photographic references and film stills, establishing a consistent spatial logic and visual framework through which subjective emotional states are articulated.
For me, this project is not only a revisiting of personal experience, but also an ongoing inquiry into estrangement, authenticity, and how the individual navigates existence within structured environments. Through the intersection of image and narrative, I aim to construct a mode of expression that operates between the visible and the unsayable—one that is slower, more restrained, and carries an internal tension.
本项目源于我在高中时期的个人经验，以及对加缪《局外人》的持续阅读与理解。在高压教育环境中，我长期处于现实期待与内在感受之间的错位状态，这种疏离感逐渐演变为一种持续的自我观察与反思，使我开始关注个体在既定社会结构中的处境，以及人在规则与自我之间如何建立关系。
《局外人》中默尔索所呈现的疏离姿态与对社会规范的距离感，使我重新理解“局外”这一状态——它并非单纯的冷漠或逃避，而是一种对现实保持直接感知、拒绝被既定价值体系完全规训的存在方式。加缪“零度写作”中所体现的克制、去修饰与对真实经验的保留，进一步影响了我在视觉表达中的方法选择。
在具体实践中，我尝试将这种“克制的真实”转化为图像语言。通过铅笔、粉彩与彩铅的结合，我在画面中建立起介于清晰与模糊之间的表达状态：粉彩的扩散带来不稳定的边界与朦胧的感知，彩铅用于结构与细节的补充，而铅笔则保留一种近似书写的痕迹，使画面呈现出带有时间感与不确定性的视觉质地。
在叙事结构上，我将原有内容重组为十八个段落，并分为两个部分，使每一幅图像既能够作为独立片段成立，又在整体中形成连续的阅读路径。同时，画面的构图与光影参考现实摄影与电影剧照，以此建立稳定的空间关系与视觉逻辑，并在统一的视觉框架中承载更为主观的情绪经验。
对我而言，该项目不仅是对一段个人经历的回溯，也是对“疏离”“真实”以及个体在结构性环境中如何自处的持续探讨。通过图像与叙事的交叉，我试图在可见与不可言说之间，建立一种更为缓慢、克制且具有内在张力的表达方式。
The detached stance embodied by Meursault in The Outsider, along with his distance from social conventions, led me to reconsider the notion of being an “outsider.” Rather than signifying indifference or withdrawal, it can be understood as a mode of existence that maintains direct perception of reality while resisting complete alignment with established value systems. Camus’ concept of “zero-degree writing,” characterized by restraint, minimal mediation, and the preservation of raw experience, has further informed my approach to visual expression.
In my practice, I attempt to translate this sense of restrained authenticity into a visual language. By combining pencil, pastel, and colored pencil, I construct an image state that exists between clarity and ambiguity: the diffused qualities of pastel introduce unstable boundaries and a sense of perceptual haze; colored pencil is used to articulate structure and detail; while pencil marks retain a handwritten, tactile quality, allowing the image to carry a sense of temporality and uncertainty.
In terms of narrative structure, I reorganized the content into eighteen segments, divided into two parts, allowing each image to function independently while also forming a continuous sequence when viewed as a whole. At the same time, the composition and lighting of the images are informed by photographic references and film stills, establishing a consistent spatial logic and visual framework through which subjective emotional states are articulated.
For me, this project is not only a revisiting of personal experience, but also an ongoing inquiry into estrangement, authenticity, and how the individual navigates existence within structured environments. Through the intersection of image and narrative, I aim to construct a mode of expression that operates between the visible and the unsayable—one that is slower, more restrained, and carries an internal tension.
本项目源于我在高中时期的个人经验，以及对加缪《局外人》的持续阅读与理解。在高压教育环境中，我长期处于现实期待与内在感受之间的错位状态，这种疏离感逐渐演变为一种持续的自我观察与反思，使我开始关注个体在既定社会结构中的处境，以及人在规则与自我之间如何建立关系。
《局外人》中默尔索所呈现的疏离姿态与对社会规范的距离感，使我重新理解“局外”这一状态——它并非单纯的冷漠或逃避，而是一种对现实保持直接感知、拒绝被既定价值体系完全规训的存在方式。加缪“零度写作”中所体现的克制、去修饰与对真实经验的保留，进一步影响了我在视觉表达中的方法选择。
在具体实践中，我尝试将这种“克制的真实”转化为图像语言。通过铅笔、粉彩与彩铅的结合，我在画面中建立起介于清晰与模糊之间的表达状态：粉彩的扩散带来不稳定的边界与朦胧的感知，彩铅用于结构与细节的补充，而铅笔则保留一种近似书写的痕迹，使画面呈现出带有时间感与不确定性的视觉质地。
在叙事结构上，我将原有内容重组为十八个段落，并分为两个部分，使每一幅图像既能够作为独立片段成立，又在整体中形成连续的阅读路径。同时，画面的构图与光影参考现实摄影与电影剧照，以此建立稳定的空间关系与视觉逻辑，并在统一的视觉框架中承载更为主观的情绪经验。
对我而言，该项目不仅是对一段个人经历的回溯，也是对“疏离”“真实”以及个体在结构性环境中如何自处的持续探讨。通过图像与叙事的交叉，我试图在可见与不可言说之间，建立一种更为缓慢、克制且具有内在张力的表达方式。
PART I
PART II
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