Red Herring
Photography installation
Red threads, inkjet prints, white fabric, monkey backpack
2020

This work explores the way of dealing with the obsession with nostalgia. Oftentimes, we drown ourselves in reminiscence and cling to the familiarity of the past. Yet we found ourselves lost and displaced facing the present and the future. Why wouldn’t we let go even when things fall apart? How should we bid a proper farewell to our past, and how do we get out of the overwhelming nostalgia? These are the questions I try to answer in this work.

The inspiration of this work comes from my relationship with my first boyfriend, who gifted me a stuffed monkey backpack when I was fifteen. The still images and video clips show the monkey at places we used to be, or doing things we used to do. Red threads embody the predestined romantic binding force in traditional Chinese culture; here they also represent the tangling past memory. I used the red threads to connect every element and hang the monkey. A printed instruction is placed beside the monkey guiding the audience to cut the threads one at a time. Finally, when all the threads are gone, the audience can take the monkey away with them.

Bringing the actual subject of the photograph to the site, this work merges multiple visual dimensions and forms a new way of viewing images. In front of these memory fragments, the audience automatically participates in a remembrance. When they cut the threads, the audience experienced the difficult feelings of separation while being liberation from the past. After the monkey is gone, the installation becomes the remains of a farewell.

假线索
摄影装置
红线、喷墨打印照片、白布、猴子背包
2020

这个作品旨在探究如何面对怀旧情绪。对过去的过度沉溺和追寻，使得很多人，包括我，在面对当下和未来的时候，做出了负向的选择。该怎么从过去和怀旧中走出，我尝试在作品中找到答案。
该作品为摄影装置，包括静态照片和动态影像。猴子背包是15岁时男友送的，背多了，我的朋友看到它便想起我。装置中还使用了红线，把猴子背包吊起，也把照片都串联在一起。红线有月老姻缘之意，而刺绣则是物化的情思，一针一线满怀情意。猴子面前放了一把剪刀，引导观众，剪掉红线，带走猴子。
该作品打破传统的图像观看模式，将照片中的实体内容引入现场，形成了没有隔阂的观看方式。与观众的互动使得观众的行为也成为了作品的一部分。猴子被观众带走后，观众与作品的互动构成了又一次对过去的回溯，和一种新的告别。