Title:
Home · Memories
Year:
2022
Field:
Installation, Art, Video
The concept of home becomes truly tangible when we leave it. Home is a vessel for memories, and the recollections of it become increasingly blurred over time, like photos left in the rain, gradually fading. The arrangement, scents, and sensations of home may seem trivial, yet they are precious. Among these memories, perhaps the most important are the people and the stories that unfold within the home.
[ MOTIVATION ]
In 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread in China, people were forced to change many aspects of their daily lives. One of the most significant changes was that many people had to spend more time with their close family members. At the same time, an increasing number of people faced the sorrow of losing loved ones and the shattering of memories. In this context, my collaborators and I began to reflect on the relationship between home and memory. We hoped to explore these concepts through an interactive installation.
[ SOLUTION ]
Under the theme of "Home · Memory," we selected the imagery of old photographs and mist to convey our concept. Old photographs evoke a sense of familiarity for viewers; even in photos of strangers, there might be familiar arrangements, objects, or people that bring distant memories to the surface. Based on this, we chose dozens of family-themed photos as our primary material.
Mist shares many similarities with our memories. In nature, water exists in various forms, each with its unique characteristics. Flowing water leaves traces, much like memories that, though blurred, leave marks. As water transforms into mist, past memories seem hidden behind a veil of fog—vague yet intriguing, slowly corroded and losing clarity. Mist spreads, and even when wiped away, it quickly reappears, just as our efforts to recall past memories often lead to more blurriness. Yet ultimately, memories seem to recondense into a droplet, merging into the flow of time. Just as water changes form, past memories continuously emerge, blur, and recondense, persisting in different forms.
