To Bid You Farewell.I
向你告别. I

2020,
Stone, Fire, Needle, Dimension variable









The "To Bid You Farewell" series is an installation that is my reflection on the relationship and current state of affairs between China's empty nesters and contemporary society.

Their suicide notes are gentle and calm. In the last moments of their lives, they still miss their families and friends, even strangers. Only they are not themselves ever.

I collect stones everywhere in my life and carve the suicide notes from empty nesters (searched on the internet and news) on the rocks with a needle.

As the flames burned, the stones filled with suicide notes began to appear little by little as blurs, black spots, and scratches until they were all burned black. Older adults' depressed and lonely mood is transformed into a blackened state. It reflects the powerlessness of their words and writings—the neglect and forgetfulness of society and families. Moreover, stones represent the home and tombstone of stiffness and stagnation, life and death. Finally, older adults, suicide notes, the spirit, the flesh; everything disappears with time, like a long-planned farewell.
《向你告别》系列是一个装置作品,是我对中国空巢老人与当代社会的关系与现状的反映和沉思。

他们的文字是温柔的,平静的。在他们生命的最后时刻,依然挂念着家人和朋友,甚至陌生人。唯独没有他们自己。

我收集生活中随处可见的石头,用针将在网络/新闻中收集的遗书(来自空巢老人)刻在上面。随着火焰的燃烧, 刻满遗书的石头开始一点一点地出现模糊,黑点,划痕直至全部烧成黑色。将老人压抑,孤独的心情转化成被烧黑的状态。体现和思考他们言语和文字的无力感与被社会,家庭的忽视和遗忘。温柔的遗书和自杀行为形成了一种强烈的矛盾。

最后老人,遗书,精神,肉体;一切都随着时间消失了,像是一场蓄谋已久的告别。









To Bid You Farewell.I (Details), 2020, Stone, Fire, Needle, Dimension variable













Digital Video - To Bid You Farewell. II
影像 - 向你告别 .II



2020,
00:03:05


                                                                                                                                         
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I also created a handmade book and images to expand my concept. The installation was recorded in a book. Each page of the book is made of transparent white and black paper overlapped, eventually forming a stone laminated. It shows the older adults' bodies and souls slowly receding with the coldness of life and society, their hearts struggling and entangled with the meaning of life and death. In the image, I opened the book and read the story spelled out by the suicide note in the first person.
我还制作了一本手工书和影像来扩展我的概念。将最后的石头装置记录成一本书。书的每一页都是由透明的白纸和黑纸重叠而成的,最终形成石头层叠的它显示了老人的身体和灵魂随着生活和社会的冷漠而慢慢退去,他们的心在不断地挣扎,与生死的意义纠缠在一起。在影像中,我翻开书,以第一人称阅读由遗书拼出的故事。








Hand Made Book - Inside and Outside of The Soul
手工书 - 灵魂内外


2020,
Vellum, Black card, Fire, 8.5inch x 11inch















Exhibition View
展览装置