Transfiguration of the migrant subject: visual autobiography and the transformation of cultural identity in Guan Wei’s “Plastic Surgery”

Abstract

The article analyzes Guan Wei’s (b. 1957) “Plastic Surgery” (2016) as a philosophical allegory of cultural identity transformation under conditions of migration. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how the visual structure of the work’s four panels articulates the dynamics of the artist’s cultural self-perception, the tension between authenticity and mimicry, and the paradoxical simulation of belonging to a new culture. The theoretical framework combines approaches from cultural memory studies, postcolonial theory, the communicative construction of identity, the politics of belonging, and the sociology of the art field. The analysis shows that the “archival” opening tableau, the “cosmetic” markup, liminal hybridization, and the final algorithmic verification constitute four interlinked regimes of self-representation in which the migrant body is rendered as a text subject to institutional and cultural editing. The study’s originality lies in formulating an analytical model of four regimes of self-representation and in interpreting the work as a visual-autobiographical protocol of the algorithmic codification of cultural belonging. The results refine the understanding of mechanisms of multiplicity, ambivalence, and the destabilization of identity amid globalized flows and transnational communications, demonstrating how art functions as a site of negotiation among memory, appearance, and symbolic power.

Research materials

1. Guan Wei. Plastic Surgery // Art gallery of New South Walles. 2016. https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2016/29727/
2. Thomson E. Guan Wei. Silent Dialogue. Part II // Сorrespondence. 2022. https://www.correspondences.work/silent-dialogue-guan-wei
3. Wei G. Plastic Surgery − a portrait of an immigrant artist // Nancy Server Gallery. 2015. https://www.nancysevergallery.com.au/guan-wei
4. Young M. Guan Wei // Artist Profile. 2017. https://artistprofile.com.au/guan-wei/

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About this article

Publication history

• Received: August 19, 2025.
• Published: September 25, 2025.

Keywords

• Гуань Вэй
• произведение «Пластическая хирургия»
• конструирование культурной идентичности мигранта
• визуальная автобиография
• Guan Wei
• work “Plastic Surgery”
• migrant cultural identity construction
• visual autobiography

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