/Residency Recollections:

Turning back and lingering before leaving. Facing forward and reflecting on what is left behind, what used to be clear and vivid. Colors disappear and fall apart. Liveliness sucked into a vacuum. Quietness ensues.



Through making paper models, I create an obscure space that exists in between reality and fabrication - a space in which one could seek a moment of tranquility when pausing for something to happen. I quickly cross paths with unfamiliar minds in a city. Everyone has his or her own goals and directions to move towards. Information and bodies flow in a fast pace, bearing burdens of their own. I once imagined an exit to it all to be a place with fertile land and bright sunshine, whether be it a land filled with mines or daisies. A land of the revolutionary or of the innocent in legends. Perhaps it is like how Italo Calvino would describe city after city in the tone of Marco Polo, but could not illustrate directly how he misses Venice. ‘Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased.



The materials and inspirations for my work come from the environment that I am in. Wondering around and living in a city becomes an important process to my art practice. The residency location had kept its architectural characters from the Medieval Age. It is surrounded by rolling hills and the Vltava River. Grand castles stood alongside the town outskirts. Feeling the castle walls made me feel like I had participated in its history. The church bells would ring solemnly and beautifully as I strolled along the alleys. The views of the entire town up from high towers were the most moving. Even though decays lined the walls and roof tiles, this town still nevertheless shouldered hundreds of years of glorious memories as well as significant history.



I had experienced different cultures, adapted different living habits, and met a variety of artists during this residency. Through conversations of our works, we could find opportunities to collaborate in the future.