Anning Song/ Summer Issue

Based in London, Anning Song is a multidisciplinary designer and artist whose work centers on human-centered storytelling. With a passion for design and artistic creation, she explores themes of self-discovery and overlooked social issues, aiming to reflect the complexity of human experience and evoke deep emotional resonance with her audience.

Anning’s practice involves distilling key elements from her chosen themes to create meaningful dialogues through a variety of media, including video, painting, and installation. Her approach blends conceptual depth with visual sensitivity, drawing viewers into immersive experiences that challenge perception and spark empathy.

She holds an MA in Data Visualization Design from the University of the Arts London and currently works in data visualization while continuing her independent art practice. Her work has been exhibited in London, international art competitions and has been featured in global art magazines.

The Hidden Scar

This project explores the dark side of society driven by profit. In China, some hospitals are not supervised by the public health bureau, leading them to set up outsourced departments to charge patients extra fees. My research shows that these outsourced departments often focus on venereology department, exploiting patients' embarrassment and trust to deceive them into believing they have an STD, offering fake surgeries and advanced treatments. These departments, called "hospitals within hospitals," cause patients to incur unnecessary medical costs, resulting in both physical and psychological harm.

To represent the pain caused by these hospitals, I use gauze shaped like male and female genitalia, red threads, and lesion images. The gauze symbolizes surgical tools, while the red threads and lesions depict the false surgeries and the cover-up of the suffering patients endure.