Yan Preston will be in China for a research and development trip for her project that explores the Yangtze River and the current urbanisation process in China in April and May 2011. For one month she will live next to the river, reflect her experience and produce new work. The project is supported by Arts Council England, Grants for the Arts.
24th May 2011 The exhibition
The exhibition finally opened. The space isn’t perfect. It was a cafe-book bar and this is their first proper exhibition. But it’s good anyway as this is my first show in China, after having left her for so many years. Through making and installing the work I’ve gained a lot of new understanding about China and made many new friends.
The exhibition has a theme of ‘water’ and ‘city’, it has three parts: the photos I took during the Trial Point System; the ‘forest’ and ‘city’ photos from Chongqing City; and the stone/video installations. It’s surprising that people welcomed the stones so much. Many asked me to hold the stones a bit more before they took them home, others spent a long time playing with them. It is through the stones that I can see people’s love to the Yangtze and the nature. Some asked me why I took photos of the trees, since they are so ordinary and ‘daily’. But one 9-year-old girl answered that question for me, she said: “The big trees are all wounded, they’re bleeding; they got all their branches chopped off—it’s not environmental -friendly at all!”
I feel that it’s been a great trip and I experimented a lot in Chongqing. However to grasp a country properly, one month is really next-to-nothing. China is changing so fast and is full of energy, I have a lot of interest in it. But this will be a long process, if I want to produce some really powerful work her.
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.
19th May 2011 Trial Point 4 – the missed one
GPS: 29.17”890’N 106.23”178’E Altitude: 555ft
After wandering in the city for two weeks, it’s refreshing to concentrate on the river for a day again. This time I didn’t expect much from Point 4, I might struggle to take a picture again.
But Point 4 was everything you can find by the river. A massive paper plant with great blue domes, a typical white-red chimney and a container port dominate the opposite bank. On this side, one can find a ship-building yard, a small port, a pebble-digging site, some sand-digging boats and some vegetable patches.Viewed from our 60km train journey along the river, similar view was constant all the way through. We managed to find a good spot for the photograph. But what I’m considering now is the advantages, disadvantages, and meanings of this ‘Point Approach’.
It is a good way to keep close to the river site as well as to collect convincing data. So far every point has pointed to the same conclusion: the uncontrollable industrialisation and urbanisation of China on the huge cost of its natural and cultural environment. Many of the damages are probably not reservable.
But after all these, a river in my mind will always be a river. I might not find it here by the side of the Yangtze, but it’s still there.The Point System obviously has its charm of travelling, but is this what I’m after for the work? How do I bring out the river that’s in my mind?
18th May 2011 A forest city
I’ve been photographing a lot in the last few days. There’s something that struck me. Perhaps it is the contrast between the old and the new town? Yesterday, from the golden towers, I walked into an area that’s partly demolished. This area has an unusual atmosphere, a landscape that I haven’t seen in all the new areas…..the trees…the trees are higher than the buildings. They grow on the buildings, even grow into them. In a way, the human structures and the nature have grown and intertwined together here. Walking in tree shadows feels very different from walking in the gaps of skyscrapers.
Apart from the new skyscrapers, I’ve also been photographing the new ‘forests’ in the city. In order to build a ‘forest city’, tens of thousands of mature trees have been bought from all over the country and the world. They have their branches seriously chopped and transported to a new place. Then they get a lot of nutrition injected into them. I hope they’ll survive.
On the top of a small hill there’s a steel tower for carrying electric cables. Underneath there’s a bird-keeping club: the Chinese like to keep birds in cages in order to enjoy their singing. Neighbours in this area will bring their birds to this strange place for the ‘fresh’ air. It’s such a sad place…
17th May 2011 The old lady
In the extremely busy area of Yang Jia Ping, an old lady sat on the pedestrian path making old-fashioned shoes by hands. I was drawn to her by her silver hair, extremely-winkled face and slow-moving hands.
She’s eighty-three years old, yet she’s still sitting here in the traffic, working on something extremely delicate. They’re so beautiful, with the time and slow motions that went into them. I bought three pairs, purely out of admiration, for her. Despite her good eyes and hands, she struggled to work out the total price. We told her it’s RMB104, and asked if I could have RMB 4 discount (not for the bargaining, but to see how she would react). She said: “Are you not embarrassed to ask for discount, look how old I am!” Ha, she’s still very smart! So I gave her RMB 105.
Afterwards I tried to find her again, just to watch her working. But she’s nowhere to be seen again.
