Cyclic Patterns

Here are two pieces of work I intend to include in my exhibition at ArtSway in September.

There are two cyclic patterns going on. One reveals the ritualistic movement of a funeral, as a large tribal gathering form sub groups, waiting their turn to form a ring round a coffin, itself protected inside a wigwam structure. The other circle is of a much faster but sometimes more erratic ritual. It shows a gathering of youths, as they spin round a rooftop on their skates, to the sound of techno beat.

Both shots depict scenes in Guizhou, China, neighbouring to Sichuan, where I will now visit in October/November. The two shots were made on the same day, at least 7 hours apart. One high up a misty mountain range. The other, down below at the valley, a sun drenched market town. 

Perseverance Pays

It pays to persevere sometimes. It was all looking a little grim when my airline had insisted I fly out to Chengdu on my scheduled date - which was shortly after the big earthquake - rather than give me a refund. However, I'm not the best person in the world to take 'no' for an answer, and so pursued my request with conviction. As the awful news of Chengdu's earthquake unfolded, it probably dawned on my airline how bad they can potentially look on their insistence. I gave them regular reports on situations in the region, calling them almost every 3 days leading up to my flight. In the end, I think they simply got tired of hearing me and sent me vouchers for the full amount paid for my flight.

I've now postponed my trip and a big part of my project until late October, early November. Hopefully conditions would have improved in China by the time I plan to go. Judging by the speed they do things out there, there is every chance the infrastructure at least would have been partially repaired by then.

In the meantime, I continue to prepare pieces of work ready for an exhibition at ArtSway this September. At the moment, I am speaking to a fabricator about the construction of a sculpture. More on that in my next post.

Jia Xiang - Family Village

In 2005, a Dorset based British town planner sent his Chinese counterpart a Christmas card with an image of Dorchester on its cover. When the man in Sichuan Province received the card, he was so inspired that he set about building a replica Dorchester on the outskirts of Chengdu, China.

Part two of my trilogy, Family Village, will explore this recent trend in China, where satellite towns are built, based on traditional English countryside lifestyles - with a focus on the vernacular architecture found in provincial towns in areas such as Dorset and Hampshire.

This has been the basis of my residency for ArtSway. When I was interviewed for the residency back in early Spring 08, I had proposed to develop Family Village, given the fact I would be within easy reach to the Dorchester many people know to exist in Dorset, UK.

My time with ArtSway got into full swing on the 1st of May, and since then, I have totally immersed myself in developing a new video investigating both Dorchester's, and how this might relate to the term Family Village.

To make these links, I intend to add several layers to the video. For instance, I am looking into re-appropriating a series of illustrations from the 1950's, originally used in China as propaganda during the decade known as 'The Great Leap Forward.' In that period, many comics were used to galvanise the masses, as the characters depicted in the little booklets depicted heroic figures fighting for the nation's cause. 

Inevitably, I will be visiting Chengdu's Dorchester at some point in the near future. Whilst there, I will also visit Sichuan's famous bamboo forest. Many villagers in China will tell you "bamboo made China." Clearly there is a link between such a strong statement and the title Family Village.

Zu Guo - Ancestral Nation

Ancestral Nation represents one part of a trilogy of video and photography works, looking at contemporary Chinese culture. The word 'Ancestral' lead me to reflect on one of China's eminent thinkers, Confucius. I wanted to make a link between this great scholar and today's society, in particular, to see what extent his teachings have impacted on China in recent times.

Depicted in the 3 channel video installation are two main scenes. One showing a festival and procession in Qufu, Shangdong province, marking the birthday of Confucius. The other scene reveals people outside Guangzhou train station, in Guangdong province.

I tried to highlight the rhythm of a staged event in correspondence to that of everyday life, where individual desires and governmental aspirations are played out as rituals and metaphors.

The word 'Country'

In the last few years, I have been looking at developments in China, in particular, it's current cultural values. I wanted to explore how contemporary culture is impacting on individual lives and also on the collective aspirations of a nation. To begin exploring a country's cultural identity, I needed to create a point of entry. In my view, language and culture have close associations, and so that was a logical starting point.

From language, I then picked the word 'Country' as spoken in Chinese. There are 3 principle ways in Chinese to say 'Country'. They are: Zu Guo (which isn't used so much these days), Guo Jia (most commonly used) and Jia Xiang (sometimes used by villagers or when somebody wants to refer to their distant motherland).

Zu Guo in English means Ancestral Nation, Guo Jia means Nation Family and Jia Xiang means Family Village. Each phrase is linked to the next and each conjures up notions of identity, nationality, place, unification and a sense of time and history.

In my next post, I'll discuss a video I made for Ancestral Nation. I'll also go into detail my plans for my residency at Artsway. That's where I'll be developing new work responding to Family Village.

Life is Cheap

I had a meeting today with the director and the curator of Artsway. We discussed if it was appropriate for me to go to Chengdu or not. From their point of view, it would be a bad idea (which I was kinda relieved to hear). Not only from the logistical and practical point of view, but also for the fact that it would be insensitive for me to go out there and make art at such a time.

But the thing that really fluxed me, was a subsequent phone call I made to my Chinese fixer. She was born and raised in Chengdu, but left for the UK after the Cultural Revolution. She's responsible for helping me find local travel guides, so I thought I'd better call her to see how Sun Ming, our guide was coping. Although she explained that most people are sleeping in their cars, rather than take the risk of staying in their homes, she also said I should get on with it, and go. Without a hint of humour, she said my life was not worth that much to be so careful about things. I think she believes me to be a wimp!!

I spent an hour or so afterwards trying to digest my fixer's advice before calling KLM to see if I could get a refund for my flight on the 30th of May. But as far as they were concerned, Chengdu Airport is operational and so the best they could do was give me up to the 30th June to take my flight or lose out. I tried to explain that an earthquake had occurred, killing lots of people (and maybe pandas too) and it might not be safe to go there so soon, but I think they were a little bored with me.

What is a life worth?

What a dilemma

For my residency at Artsway, I had proposed to produce some new work in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of SW China (more on the concepts later).

But as most people know by now, this is the exact region that has just suffered a huge earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. So devastating, the impact was felt as far as Beijing and Vietnam!! I have to say, my first thought was with the panda's, as this is the region where they come from. As they are a rare breed anyway, I am hoping some of them have survived. As for human lives, I don't think we are going to know yet, exactly how many people have died, gone missing etc, since as it's still not been possible to reach the epicentre of the quake.

On a personal note, this catastrophe is making me feel quite deflated and confused. Even before starting my residency, I had begun the task of preparing for my trip to Chengdu. But from the moment I started my residency, I have done nothing but focus on the project, planning, preparing, setting the ground work, arranging local help in China etc. There's been weeks and weeks of research, honing myself until the day I will go - supposedly on the 30th of May.

The feeling is akin to being a 100m swimmer who dedicates all their time to training, perfecting every aspect of their sport to give themselves ever chance of success in a major tournament - only to be told a week before a race, that the pool has no water, and isn't going to have any for the foreseeable future.

At the moment, 50% of me is saying stay put and reschedule everything. But the other 50% is quite stubborn, and just want to go out there on the 30th and get on with it.

What to do?