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BRIANA LEUNG

WRITTEN BY: BRIANA LEUNG

PHOTOS BY: BRIANA LEUNG

STYLED BY: BRIANA LEUNG

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Briana Leung is a filmmaker and photographer. She recently completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production at York University, where she specialized in alternative filmmaking and video editing. Her work often centres around her personal experiences surrounding the mind and body. These concepts are showcased through surreal imagery, making her pieces take on a stylized and experimental tone. Through these mediums, she strives to create art that makes people feel emotions that they have never felt before. Being a female creator in a male dominated industry, she opens up to share her experiences while trying to navigate this unpredictable environment.

Nothing is more difficult than being a young woman in media industries dominated by men. Often times, I catch myself looking in all directions, unable to trust the men I work with because of the fear of being seen as inferior. Whenever I try to explain this to others, they only comprehend the situation in regard to the wage gap. Yet the issue surrounding this imbalance in these fields stem much further than just the amount of money I get paid. It’s about the professional misconduct involving both verbal and physical harassment, and the unnecessary sexualization of my body when trying to do my job. The repetitive nature of these encounters with men in the fine arts are not only disturbing but also extremely frustrating. The frequency of this type of treatment only seems to continue as I enter my professional career, making me always anticipate the worst outcome in new job experiences.

The concept of being told that I could not be a successful filmmaker or photographer without a price would have seemed incomprehensible when I was teenager. Throughout my adolescence, much of my character development and self discovery can be attested to my experimentation with film and photography. They served as gateways to self expression when words seemed to fail me. During that time, I constantly felt the urge to recount life experiences through these artistic avenues. Never did I ever think twice about how my capabilities would be viewed based on being a woman. This mindset could be testified by the fact that I was very much a student athlete throughout high school, making it easy to blend into the crowd and somehow be deemed as, “one of the boys.” The power I held because I was able to be respected by these young men made me lose sight of the reality in regard to gender inequality. With this outlook in place, I thought that if I just put in the work and effort into honing my artistic crafts—as I did for sports—I would never be looked down upon by my counterparts. There are two core reasons as to why I naively believed in this. The first being that I never thought of myself as a desirable female in the eyes of men; and secondly, I never intended on utilizing my body as a subject for my art pieces. This perspective clearly did not age well and was proven to me when I became an adult. 

I was nineteen when a man tried to take advantage of me because I was an artist. I remember receiving a message on my Instagram from the boy who used to have his locker next to mine senior year of high school. In this message, he inquired about an illustration I posted about. We were never really friends and never kept in touch after high school ended, but his intentions seemed harmless as he appeared to only be interested in purchasing the piece. At least that was the direction I thought this conversation was headed. This quickly proved itself as being more than just about purchasing art. Although it was not explicitly stated in his message, the underlying meaning of wanting to engage in sexual acts as payment was discernibly implicated. Even though some people may perceive this as an overreaction on my part—as the internet has become a point of contact for people to meet people or rekindle old acquaintances—it’s the fact that he persuaded me into believing that he was interested in my art in hopes to get lucky. This was my initial introduction to the harsh reality of being a young female artist, and it made me question how or why someone would do that.This initial incident was the kickstarter to the harassment and misconduct, both online and in real life, that still presently affects me.

Ever since that moment, I have been coaxed into creating album artwork for male musicians without compensation or proper credit. In some cases, the entire project was dropped after weeks of labour because I refused to go on a date or have sex with them. These men would turn scenarios against me by telling me that my lack of enthusiasm will never get me a job in these industries. Some even went as far as calling me, “an untalented whore,” and “a desperate bitch.” These situations occur with both strangers and friends, making it difficult to trust men who approach me for photoshoots, film work or illustrative pieces. Although I have found a reliable group of creators who value me and my work, the looming feeling of distrust I have built up in men has affected my work life when it comes to new collaborations.  At times even when there is no signs of mal intent, I am still fearing the potential outcomes, which is devastating for a career that is heavily affected by networking.  

 

More recently, the reality of this marginalization between male and female artists has presented itself in different ways. What I mean by this is that I have encountered circumstances where other women fail to recognize that I could ever be holding a key role in a job. This is because society has instilled labels on certain professions to genders, making people assume roles in the workplace. Therefore, I am always considered the girlfriend or assistant to men when I’m on any film or photography set. Despite being able to have these work opportunities, the frustration of not being taken seriously by not only men, but also by women, is defeating.

With this comes a paradoxical turn to my journey as a photographer and filmmaker as I started creating art surrounding the body. I never once made art using my body until recently as I viewed it as being ugly; a perspective that is deep rooted in childhood abuse. In my eyes, my body wasn’t adequate enough because it holds hidden scars. My relationship with it has been complex, but as of lately, I have been rediscovering its beauty through these digital mediums. Turning it into art has enabled me to repossess it, and further heal the parts of myself that were embedded into my mind as being unappealing. With this form of photography, a mixture of responses came out of it. A majority of the people interpreted them as an attention seeking device on my part, resulting in multiple messages from men, sexualizing my body. As frustrating as this may be, I’ve continued to create this type of art as it gives the pieces more breadth and meaning as they are personal. Art has the ability to move people and for that reason, I carry on with showcasing the female body in my films and photographs in hopes to create a discourse about this subject matter. 

 

Despite the fact that some people will never comprehend the challenges that women face in these industries, I strive to bring light to the situation with my art and by sharing my experiences. I am aware that some women in these male-dominated fields are placed in worse situations than I’ve ever been in. For that reason, they inspire me to persevere through the hardships and produce work that makes viewers uncomfortable by defying gender boundaries imposed by society. I will continue to create art revolving around unspoken female subject matters in hopes to make people reconsider normative standards. Ultimately, allowing the future generation of female artists to never have to sit inside the waiting room, hoping that they’ll be heard and recognized as equals.

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