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.
1 comment:
Hi Dinu, I'm not sure if you would remember me, but I was the intern that sat in your interview for the ArtSway residency back in March. My time at the gallery is over sadly, but I can say, I was rooting for you, so congratulations! Once I heard about the earthquake, it did occur to me that it might have hit in the same area as you intended to film. This is a real shame, on many levels obviously. I will remain interested to see how your project progresses from here. All the best.
Becky
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