by Guan (Author)
The Protagonist is a book-length account of an artist growing up in China. Blurring the boundaries between painting, personal narrative, and reminiscence, the book traces, through fragmented text and images, the psychological and cultural construction of identity in the midst of displacement, memory, and emotional rupture. Through artistic practice and autobiographical fragments, the author constructs a nonlinear narrative shaped by visual trauma, the immigrant experience, and the poetics of self-representation. The paintings often disrupted, layered, or faded reflect perceptual and subjective instability. This work is for readers interested in experimental visual narratives, diasporic autobiography, memory studies, and the aesthetics of fractured identity. Protagonist invites us to rethink the boundaries between our memories, what we see and hear, and our identities.