NOT YOUR BUNNY

Lin Fei Fei’s artistic genesis in China was marked by a quiet act of defiance against societal expectations, unfolding in the Year of the Rabbit. Born a daughter when her family had longed for a son, she immediately pushed back against the rigid gender roles prescribed by her cultural context. To her, the rabbit evolved into a potent emblem of docile female submission and unthinking conformity, a symbol intertwined with cultural perceptions of Asian identity that she would grapple with relentlessly throughout her artistic practice—simultaneously embracing its cultural resonance and striving to dismantle and reinvent its meaning. This rabbit motif, in her artistic lexicon, becomes a layered mascot, encapsulating themes of gender bias, mortality, and the unspoken recesses of the human psyche.

A few years ago, she launched the Not Your Bunny mural project, initially born from a spirit of playful creativity. The central figure is a fluffy rabbit with both ears torn and damaged from fighting, its soft back turned to viewers, accompanied by the striking declaration: “THE WORLD IS FULL OF BUNNIES, BUT I AM NOT THE BUNNY YOU ARE THINKING OF.” Beneath its endearing, cuddly exterior lies a spirit of quiet resilience and resistance, making the work a powerful manifesto against stereotypes. The piece transcends individual identity, speaking to the universal experience of being misperceived—of presenting a facade that belies one’s true self. This evocative mural has since become a beloved cultural landmark in Sacramento; each year, it draws crowds of visitors during Easter, with children posing for photos in front of the iconic rabbit figure. Buoyed by this profound public connection, Fei Fei has expanded the concept into a full series, exploring the motif of deceptively cute, skull-faced rabbits to further unpack her artistic commentary on identity, perception, and the subversion of societal norms.