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Visible vs. Invisible is rooted in Wuhan, China – the world's first city to be locked down due to COVID-19. The project focuses on how the pandemic has caused a seismic shift in social relations, driven by self-isolation and media misdirection. Visible vs. Invisible seeks to explore how mass media constructs people's understanding of the pandemic. The project also works to build a collective memory for people with similar isolation experiences. As a Wuhan citizen, I personally lived the world's first COVID-19 lockdown and I have incorporated this experience to my research.
The project is presented as a set of artist’s book and situated video. The book draws on Donna Haraway's concept of "situated knowledge" to celebrate and recognise the importance of personal experience and understanding events from multiple perspectives. The film contains two key spaces: the Huanan Seafood Market and the isolated interior spaces of the home. Following eco-feminist writers such as Rachel Carson and Margaret Atwood, I used personal experiences and collected media reports to complete a mixed and flowing narrative of the event. The goal is to inspire viewers to think from different perspectives and encourage them to participate and create our own collective memories.
I am constantly switching between ego, id and non-ego to complete the dialogue with south China seafood market. (As two suffer in silence).
The book explores the question of collective memory, which contains my personal experience, media reports and one-on-one interviews with Wuhan citizens.
Between the virtual and the real, across time and space.