Meet Scarlett Yang

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Scarlett Yang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Scarlett, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

My purpose didn’t reveal itself all at once; it emerged gradually through the discomfort I felt while watching how women are expected to perform perfection. Growing up in China and later living and working in London, I became aware of the contradictions women constantly navigate. There is an ongoing tension between reverence and repression, tradition and autonomy, beauty and obedience.

I realised that illustration could be more than image-making. It could serve as a language of critique. My interest in symbolism and visual storytelling led me to explore how cultural expectations are embedded in everyday objects, rituals, and social roles. Art became a way for me to decode these structures and reassemble them with conscious intent.

That was the starting point of “The New Goddess.” This project reframes the goddess archetype as a digital temple where divinity and reality coexist. The female body is deconstructed and becomes a vessel for society’s layered expectations surrounding wisdom, beauty, love, family, career, fertility, and sexuality. Within this system, tarot cards act as guides for “how to become perfect,” reflecting the emotional cost of these ideals.

Finding purpose, for me, is not about arriving at a fixed identity. It is about building a visual language that continues to question, disrupt, and reveal. That intention continues to shape my personal and commissioned work alike.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

My current practice sits at the intersection of illustration, visual art, and feminist inquiry. While I continue to work on commercial commissions, the heart of my recent work lies in building a symbolic visual system that explores how womanhood is shaped, displayed, and consumed.

Following “The New Goddess,” which reimagines the goddess archetype as a fragmented vessel of social expectations, I am expanding the project into new formats. The tarot-inspired deck “Goddess’s Revelation,” currently in production, will soon be available through my online shop. It transforms visual storytelling into an interactive experience, inviting viewers to interpret, reflect, and project their own narratives.

In parallel, I am developing “Her Feast,” a still-life-based series where ritual objects, animals, and food compositions become metaphors for how women are invisibly exploited, particularly through the lens of sexuality. This series is being developed with exhibition in mind, and I am in active conversation with several galleries about bringing it into a physical space.

Across these projects, I aim to create not isolated images but a cohesive visual universe where feminist narratives are encoded, aestheticised, and quietly questioned.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Reflecting on my practice, three key strengths have shaped both my personal projects and commissioned work.

The first is symbolic thinking. This involves constructing visual metaphors that carry emotional and cultural weight. It allows my work to move beyond surface aesthetics and to offer deeper layers of meaning, especially when dealing with themes such as identity, gender, literature, and tradition.

The second is the ability to work narratively across a project system. Over time, I have learned to think not just in single images but through sequences and symbolic structures. Both “The New Goddess” and “Her Feast” reflect how I approach illustration as a cohesive language, one in which each piece contributes to a broader visual narrative.

Finally, I rely on self-directed research and project development. Much of my creative growth has come from initiating independent series rooted in questions I hold about the world. These projects often begin as abstract discomforts and evolve into structured visual responses through investigation, sketching, and iteration.

For artists early in their journey, I would encourage building your own frameworks. Let your personal questions guide your practice, and think of visual language not as something to decorate with, but as a system you design from within.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes, I am open to meaningful collaboration, especially with individuals and organisations engaged in visual storytelling, cultural discourse, and feminist themes.

At the moment, I am looking to connect with curators, galleries, and independent publishers who are interested in exploring visual projects that blur the lines between illustration and fine art. My ongoing series “The New Goddess” and “Her Feast” are designed with cross-disciplinary potential in mind, and I would love to bring them into exhibition spaces, print-based formats, or narrative-driven collaborations.

I am also open to collaborating with cultural platforms and institutions that focus on gender, identity, or Asian diasporic perspectives. If any of these directions resonate, I would be love to hear from you. You can reach me through my website http://www.scarlett-yang.com and on Instagram @scarletteryang. I value collaborations that grow through shared vision and meaningful dialogue.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.scarlett-yang.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarlettyang.ig/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scarlett-yang-9165862a8
• Other: Rednote(Xiaohongshu): https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/5b49832d4eacab18f02b8fa4