2005 Them (Video)

VB-0036-008, 2005

39’17”, PAL, 720 x 576, sound, color

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“Them” is my second video work from 2005 and a project I had envisioned for a long time. I often walk across a pedestrian bridge leading to the light rail, where a blind young man frequently sits, making a living by telling fortunes. Every time I see his frail body and his deep, bottomless blind eyes, I feel an inexplicable sensation stirring within me, as though there is something I need to express together with this blind man.

And then there is her, the female protagonist who often appears in my work. Since first appearing in my work, she has gradually started to form a clear vision for her own life and future. After her first role in one of my pieces, she developed a new dream: to one day take the entrance exam for the Beijing Film Academy and become an actress. After her second role, her goal evolved—now she aspired to study at the Central Academy of Drama and become a performance star. By her third appearance, her grasp of her roles had developed an awareness of performance, something I did not need, yet she kept evolving, adding insights and interpretations she observed and learned from life, eagerly anticipating every bit of her growth.

And what about the blind fortune teller? Is he not also waiting for something?

Who is anticipating the future? Truly?

All of us!

She is a fifth-grade student, 12 years old.

He—the blind man—lost his sight at 2, never attended school, and is now 28 years old.

This is a dialogue between an adult and a child. These are two people who both harbor hopes for the future.

These are two incomplete, immature individuals. Two people who spend their days wandering through the adult world.

Is this merely the relationship between a fortune-teller and someone being told their fortune? Or is it a relationship of mutual exchange?

Who is reading whose fortune?

Between the two of them, between them and society, between them and the world.

 

（Text Provided by the Artist）