2024
“Between 1990 and 1995, the quaint town of Hastons was plagued by a series of macabre events - as many as 30 cases of women being brutally murdered. The perpetrator has evaded capture to this day, despite the local authorities releasing one suspect after another. The killings have persisted, casting a shadow over the town. Before each crime, the perpetrator had a habit of photographing extensive material, scattering them on the outskirts of the town, perhaps as a brazen challenge to the authorities. However, it seems that a turning point in the case occurred when a man named Hammett arrived in town. On a rainy night, as fate would have it, Hammett's car broke down as he passed through the town, forcing him to seek help. Inadvertently, he found himself on a deserted path, and after several twists and turns, he stumbled upon a dilapidated and sinister house. Approaching a window, by the dim glow of a candle, he witnessed a scene that would haunt him forever - a humanoid doll painstakingly crafted from sewn-together pieces of human skin.....”
In a chaotic system, it’s impossible to define the positions of perpetrator and victim. As I read through the countless chapters of victimized girls in Bolano‘s 2666, a sense of powerlessness compels me to speculate about the true identity of the perpetrator. These fragments serve solely to visualize some of the fragmented information in my mind, extracted from the world of information, and generate new content within the existing information system.
I attempt to create a genuine subjective experience, allowing viewers to imagine a series of violent events about sex from these fictional image fragments. This dislocated thinking is very common in life; people's subjective consciousness determines what they see, and what people see is also disciplined and designed. The so-called truth and falsehood often lack definite standards of definition, instead occupying a large gray area in between. This is where most people live. I believe this zone is the oasis of imagination, where countless "subjective truths" are created.
This series represents a fictional investigative dossier. Rather than crafting a continuous visual narrative through traditional photography, my approach begins with a contemplation of the essence of "images." I utilize existing visual materials to construct a narrative within a fictional framework. This choice also signifies the creation of a disjointed timeline, transforming the narrative's timeline into a nonlinear portrayal, aimed at blurring the concept of time and space, thus allowing the narrative images to provide a subjective experiential loop.
Through this process, I aim to create a new set of images that reflect the narrative I've envisioned. As W.J.T. Mitchell suggests, "The world does not depend on consciousness, but the images of the world clearly do."
2023
Sometimes, I would think that these creatures which have been living in the past just leave their bodies in reality, maybe their spirits go to some wonderlands that we never know. Later, during the shooting, I gradually discovered that these specimens on display were also very similar to the statues in temples, which gradually gave me a sense of shock. Perhaps to some extent, these specimens carry some kind of divinity in their bodies. When I took pictures of them as statues of gods, all fear disappeared, maybe life itself was a miracle.
I tried different photographic techniques to build an unreal feeling of these “bodies”, and maybe to some degree, I think these creatures look like in the womb which showed a peaceful and quiet state before they were born.
However, I regard these specimens as some immortals and named this series“Niche”, it is about places for both gods and creatures.
2022
However, I chose to numb myself and use real things to create an ostensible numbness to make myself feel happy. The home quarantine made me more obsessed with sleeping. Compared with the boring reality, the ghostly scenes I had seen in my dreams attracted me. So the gap between reality and fiction prompted me to desperately quarried for a dreamy, flattering, and illusory happiness. I tried to build many artificial sceneries to express what I saw in my dream and even I would use some digital techniques. Maybe only in this way, all my emotions could be diffused in my dream. The Honey Pool was one of scenes in my dream, a colorful lake, it flashed all night, and this beautiful fairyland might be able to console myself and even every lost soul.
2016 - 2020
I started planning the shooting of this group of photos from the end of 2016. Most of the photos were taken at night because of the dark environment gave me a feeling of separation and security. Later, in order to increase the expression of memory, I began to blur these scenes by lens refraction, grease application, etc. For me, this is the original memory of my mind, it exists, but it is always vague. Later, I discovered that no matter how hard I try to hug the past, I could not revitalize the complete emotions and pictures. On the contrary, I found that the motivation for shooting always came from the my distant childhood memories. After that, I began to understand that memories do not need to be retrieved. They have been integrated into my body and consciousness. After 2017, my shooting range is no longer limited to my hometown. I started to travel around the country and the shooting direction changed from “memories” to “remodeling”. The next shooting after that , I started using the flash to make the original silent scenes vivid. From the passive search for memory at the beginning, to the spontaneous emergence of them in the end, the memories of me, it began to bloom again in another way.
I named this group of works " the forgotten fields", not just the memory of the Northeast. I know that my hometown has changed in the moment I left, time has ruthlessly promoted the process of urbanization, and all of what I was familiar with will fade away. But it is important to extract what I think is precious from my life and let them be expressed in a unique form.