We headed to Shanghai after that – I had an idea that I wanted to explore performed emotion – a few businesses in China are teaching their staff to smile in a ‘western’ way. They do this training via using chopsticks between the teeth – the goal is to show six to eight teeth. After a lot of phonecalls, I couldn’t find any inpoint into the businesses. Reflecting, I needed a really good translater early on. We tried to shoot more barber shops, however, no one wanted to be in front of the camera in Shanghai. Businesses were unregistered, and they didn’t want to be highlighted. We ate a lot, we caught up friends and we did some sight seeing.
We then went to Chongqing to start a residency with Organhaus. I had come to Chongqing to film the funeral criers on Chongqing – by hiring professional mourners, I think the idea is, is that the criers help conjure up emotional intensity. The wailers are performers, paid to cry for the deceased through anguished songs. It is an ancient custom, but during Mao’s Cultural Revolution wailing was banished, however now it is making a comeback, mostly, it seems by the more wealthy Chinese. I filmed seven mourners.The performers usually are professional singers, often singers of the Peking Opera. Starting off with a slow speech, they fall to the ground, which moves onto to arms wailing and then singing and moaning that had such an overwhelming intensity – They slowly make there way forward after much dramatic movement – throwing themselves on the ground. After the performance, they quickly stand up, wipe their tears and get changed back into their normal clothes. For some reason, Chongqing has many funeral criers – up to 2000 of them. I am still yet to find out why this is. Funeral crying is popular in eastern europe, in Taiwain, and Greece, and this maybe be something I keep exploring. I am interested in the performed emotion, the role of tears, and the search for authenticity. This will most likely become a video installation.
To me, Chongqing felt like the heart of China. A big part of a residency is just being in new environments – which is incredible – but it always takes a long time to settle before work can begin. When we leave our flat, we are propelled onto the street – strange smells, shouting, food – we can’t stop for long with out pablo getting crowded with mums showing their kids what a little western boy looks like. People are gambling, selling, yelling, going about business. The street life here is incredible. It will make Australia and Berlin feel like it is dead.
The Asialink residency in China was an incredible, life changing opportunity, one that allows artists a great amount of time to be immersed in a culture foreign to ones own. Being absorbed in such a different environment creates a deep awareness of your day – there is constant responding and adjusting, time seems to go slower, by the end of the day you seem to have learnt more than you knew in the morning. For me, being engrossed in such unusual surroundings allowed for a greater freedom to explore new mediums, approaches and ideas, most likely because I was also discovering new sides to myself.
