TREE
Year: 2022
Media: plant dyeing, woodcut, watercolor, digital printing
Size (cm): 17 * 22 * 5 (artistbook), 60 * 38 * 20 (Desktop bookshelf)
TREE以一个流浪女性的视角，记录了一个对于生活中现代社会的我们而言完全不可知的世界。书中所记载的树木和与之共生的人类文明最终因为大范围的人类活动而消亡，而记录者也不见踪影。动物和植物，随着人类活动灭绝，它们的消亡就像是历史发展过程中不得不发生的悲剧，仿佛人类社会的发展注定了人类无法与自然共存。
在当时的我看来，人的肉体，血脉，所接受的文化或许来自于某个特定的地方，但我们无法解释灵魂的来源和去处。在当代社会，信息媒体技术的跨速发展无限缩小了不同地区的人们之间的时空距离，社群文化兴起，但也许人与人灵魂上的距离并没有因此变得更加亲近，人无法孤立的存在，但也不能消除其自身的孤独性。
于是我把目光投向远方，比现实更加遥远的地方，企图在“追寻”的过程中获得精神上的安宁和满足。
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TREE records, from the perspective of a wandering woman, a world completely unknowable to those of us living in modern society. The trees described in the book—and the human civilizations that once coexisted with them—ultimately vanish due to large-scale human activity, and the recorder herself disappears without a trace. Animals and plants, extinguished by human actions, meet their end as if their disappearance were an inevitable tragedy within the course of history, as though the development of human society had predetermined humanity’s inability to coexist with nature.
At that time, I felt that while the human body, bloodline, and inherited culture may come from a particular place, we cannot explain the origin or the destination of the soul. In contemporary society, the rapid expansion of information and media technologies has infinitely compressed the space-time distance between people in different regions. Community cultures emerge, yet perhaps the distance between human souls has not grown any closer because of it. A person cannot exist in complete isolation, yet neither can they escape the solitude inherent to their being.
And so, I cast my gaze into the distance—toward places even further away than reality itself—in an attempt to find, in the process of “seeking,” a sense of spiritual peace and fulfillment.
Ziyi：
“一切始于一种“追寻”的状态，比如说在无聊的时候追求有趣的生活体验，比如为了满足好奇心了解某类知识，又或者追求无法说明的某种悸动。
2022年刚刚入秋的时候，我一个人骑着电瓶车行驶了五、六公里，慢慢地往云栖竹径（杭州市）的方向驶去。我无法描述那天一时兴起，无论如何也想要出门走走的心情，这对于我需要规划好每天行程的习惯是不符的，也许是疫情在家待太久了，想去山里看一眼。行驶在路上、耳机里放着When the Levee Breaks时，我发现我追寻的是这种‘在通往某个未知方向的途径上’的这个过程。
不止在中国，新冠疫情在世界范围给还活着的人类造成了巨大的影响，不知是否属实，但我感到人们愈发的依赖网络了——在短时间内，至少在中国的时候，我已经习惯了甚至依赖用线上应用处理一切事务：买菜，聊天，上课，与此同时我们的肉身却被限制在一个又一个的区域内，无法自如行动。
在这个过程中，我的意识和身体是脱节的，我的意识早就漂移到了远处，虽然那里也许只是由于现实需要所幻想出来的事物。于是当社区不再隔离和严格要求使用健康码进出的时候，我迫不及待地，把电瓶车充满电，在一个有雨的下午，缓缓地离开了小区，为了弥补肉身的行动体验。
所有在过去一年中发生的事情就像路边的风景，从我身边离开，我在奔赴目的地的过程中忧伤的感到：确实也并没有什么是能永恒存在的。”
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“Everything begins with a state of ‘seeking.’ For example, seeking interesting life experiences when feeling bored; seeking knowledge to satisfy curiosity; or pursuing some inexplicable stirring of the heart.
In early autumn of 2022, I rode an electric scooter alone for five or six kilometers, slowly heading in the direction of Yunqi Bamboo Path (in Hangzhou). I cannot describe the sudden impulse that day, the feeling that I simply had to go out for a walk—something quite unlike my usual habit of carefully planning my daily schedule. Perhaps it was because I had been confined at home for too long during the pandemic, and I just wanted to catch a glimpse of the mountains. Riding along the road with When the Levee Breaks playing in my headphones, I realized what I was seeking was precisely this process—‘being on the path toward some unknown destination.’
Not only in China, but across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on those who survived it. I don’t know whether it is entirely true, but I felt people had become increasingly dependent on the internet. In a short period of time—at least while I was in China—I had already grown accustomed, even reliant, on handling everything through online apps: buying groceries, chatting, attending classes. Meanwhile, our physical bodies were confined within one restricted zone after another, unable to move freely.
In this process, my consciousness and body became disconnected. My consciousness had already drifted far away, though perhaps only toward things imagined out of necessity. So when the community eventually lifted its lockdowns and stopped strictly requiring the health code for entry and exit, I wasted no time: I fully charged my scooter and, on a rainy afternoon, slowly rode out of the neighborhood—to make up for the lost experience of bodily movement.
Everything that had happened over the past year passed by me like roadside scenery. As I journeyed toward my destination, I felt a sorrowful realization: indeed, nothing can ever truly last forever.”