PRACTICE OF HUMANITY
It is a work to practice humanity through a simple movement, embodying Ubuntu, African philosophy that places emphasis on ‘being self through others’, and the Chinese character of ‘human’, where two people stand back-to-back supporting and leaning on each other.
My inspiration came from the dichotomies and affinities based on humanity I experienced in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa in late 2019 – where people celebrated the 25th anniversary of democracy after the Apartheid while the xenophobic riots broke out.
LEAN ON, MAKE MISTAKES, EXPRESS EMOTIONS
The workshops in South Africa were carried out with different forms of society: private (family), collective (school), and public (workplace/ exhibition space). The workshop begins with a brief introduction of Chinese characters as logogram. The participants work in pairs, communicating without facing and using hands, trusting each other to find the balance and synergy in order to achieve the goal of sitting down and standing up together. While there were many successful movements, there were also struggles and attempts without succeeding, misunderstandings, new interpretations, and some moments of emotional interactions and expressions between the pair and among those who were present at the workshops.
BACKDROP TO DEVELOP / REDUCE TO GREY
The excerpts from the audio visual recording of the two previous workshops were projected on the fabric hang on a metal grid structure as an installation, which became the backdrop for the the third workshop, possible to be seen from both front and back side. The participants are reduced to the grey-toned shadows in the projection, no matter which race.
The project continues in Sweden and Japan during the COVID pandemic, reflecting their respective restrictions and social norms.
