21 May 2011 Life of a river
The exhibition day is approaching fast. Apart from taking pictures of the river and the city, I’m now trying something that’s entirely new to me. I’ve been collecting stones at the river bank and hope to make some installations with them.
I discovered that from far away, the river always looks very calm, not interesting and full of concrete scars. But when I got close to the river, the rounded stones appeared , just as so many river banks. I’ve been playing with the stones, just as how I always did in my childhood. It seems the river now has gradually become a ‘river’ again, something part of the romantic nature that I can play with and have a connection too. And the stones have become the link between me the river. In the exhibition I’ll have red stones and stones with white circles. I’ve also done something to make them more ‘special’.
‘red stones. each one was held in my palm for 10 seconds.
stones with white circles. each circle was felt and followed by my finger tips.’
This obviously has a lot of reference to Richard Long’s work. But he doesn’t seem to hold his subjects this way. Anyway, I’ll have a go.
Apart from the stones I’ve also been making videos that are about the swallows, tadpoles and water flow at the river. Again, all these are surprises that were only discovered by being very close to the river. The river is still full of life.
