OUT OF PLACE (2016)
From the reform and opening up to now, China is experiencing unprecedented changes. This is an era of huge population migration. Demolition and reconstruction in recent years, urbanization has affected every corner of China, but what we finally see is that every city has the same face. People migrate from one city to another, from one country to another, and everyone has a hometown in their hearts. Hometown means return. The return of Odysseus in Greek mythology finally came true, but can the return we imagine really come true?
For Chinese people who drift overseas, if the language dilemma, cultural conflict, and unpredictable return are just a foreplay, then the reality of the disappearance of the mother tongue, the "colonization" of culture, and even the shattering of the dream of return is a permanent exile. After experiencing such an exile, Said wrote in his book "Misfits": "In ancient times, exile was a particularly terrible punishment. It not only meant being away from home and familiar places, wandering aimlessly for many years, but also meant becoming a perpetual wanderer, forever away from home, always in conflict with the environment, unable to let go of the past, and full of misery for the present and the future."
As a person who has received a "post-colonial education", I have to face my hometown in an era of great changes. This is a very cruel "nightmare". Because the "familiar place" is no longer there, the "family" is also fragmented, and forgetting becomes a necessary "emotional ability".
In Greek mythology, Odysseus returned to his hometown after wandering on the sea for ten years. No one recognized him, so he dressed himself up as a beggar and sneaked into his home to take back everything in the past. But today's return is even more cruel, because even the exile himself can no longer recognize the appearance of his hometown.
This group of works consists of more than 60 photos, which are unfolded in the form of film narrative. It is a group of works I explore dispersion and return.
