The theme of this bridge project is “Obstacle”
- In the dictionary, Obstacle means something that impedes progress or achievement. In this project, my partner, shuqi and I are exploring the obstacle that is existing between the lives and deaths and even afterlives.
- In the beginning phase of the project, we were sending pictures that we think would have the obstacle meanings back and forth to each other, then we used photoshop to highlight the part that has the significance. As you can see, we took pictures that both share similarities and differences that varied by the places we took and the way it presents.
- The second phase of the project, we started making our founded poetry at the seminar class, we chose the words and lines from the book and poems randomly at first, then we found that the most lines we picked are related to the death and lives and even afterlives. We felt a kind of emotional attachment to this themes and that is also the moment we decided to specify our project to deaths and lives.
We used materials of traditional burning money that is used for the funeral in China. We think that by burning these fake money, we can build a bridge and make a connection for the afterlives. The significance of it is to make people who see our works think about their own afterlives. In China, people always think it is an unlucky and unfortunate thing to talk about the death, but by touching the texture of such burnt money and the smell of the burning, we can be more connected and talk about it without any concerns. People who live in such a conservative society would intentionally not to talk about the deaths and this is putting an obstacle in somehow.- Also, we also emphasized the Obstacle by making our founded poetry in the different language in our zine, we know people may not understand the literature, however, this is intentional, we do not want you to know the exact meanings. We selected the poems from Chinese literature, Japanese poems about the death and hope, even the chapter from the Bible. Even though people could not understand the exact meaning of the lines, the background picture we took that is with the poems also create the atmospheres that are matched with the poems.
- In the end, I want to further explain the obstacle between the present lives and the afterlives, there is an old saying in Chinese, “someone died, but he/she is alive, someone is alive, but she/he has died. ” we always have a common understanding that we feel alive because of we are breathing, eating and moving. However, in my perspective, we are making an obstacle by thinking in this way. This thinking can be a misunderstanding because there is no absolute definition of being alive. I felt the most satisfied part of our project is that it is very conceptual, every time I look at it I felt like I’ll have a extended thinking that will also link to a question that is more profound and deep.
