Size: 33.9 cm X 50.8 cm
Before moving to a big city, I had lived in the countryside near a research institute where my parents worked – a place with nothing more than a lot of farming fields at that time. I often recollect the happy hours I spent alone in elementary school, together with the space of absolute freedom. That was a time when I had plenty of time embracing green nature, buds in spring, sunshine in summer, and thoroughly ripe fruits in the fall. My favorite thing after school was to run to the farm near my school, familiarized myself with the various plants, and observed their growth. My family moved to downtown when I was in high school, where, besides the crowded streets and polluted air, what bothered me most was the surveillance camera at every corner of the city. Even if I walked alone in an empty street, I would feel anxious that I was always being watched. During my university years, new cities kept emerging and old suburbs have now transformed into satellite cities with numerous high rises, while the woods once with flowers turned into fences, street lamps, and poles together with surveillance cameras rotating around their tops. The memory of my childhood has gradually disappeared with them. In my photos, creatures (half plant and half surveillance camera) are the incarnations of the contradiction between the old and new living environments in my mind.
Generally, a plant cannot make up the facial expression of “looking” at you, but those plants in my photos have eyes, which are surveillance cameras instead of biological eyes. When surveillance cameras are placed where they were, they do not look like eyes. When they are mixed with plants, however, their branches and leaves are easily taken as limbs and surveillance cameras are eyeballs at the ends of the limbs. When taking these photos, I never considered to use post production to combine surveillance cameras and plants, because I would like the new creatures in my photos to come out of my head and actually exist right here. I want they were already there in actuality before I pushed the shutter button. I used a ladder to get one fruit down, fixed a surveillance camera in the vacancy left by it, and well hid the rope behind. I took all the photos with a 50mm lens and allowed the surveillance cameras to produce a “catch light” through a reflector. I used the vivid summer color as the base tone. As a result, the plants and surveillance cameras were replaced by my new species in the photos. Looked at through my angle, these creatures appear to have eyes gazing at you.
初中之前我一直住在鄉下的研究所附近，那個年代家屬宿舍區被農田、果園以及散落其中的零星農家環繞著。我經常會想起那時候一個人玩耍時的快樂時光，無拘無束的自由空間。每天都有很多時間擁抱大自然，春天的嫩芽，夏天的陽光，秋天熟透的農作物果實。放學後我最喜歡做的事情之一就是一個人跑到學校附近的田野和果園中，在那裡認識各種作物，觀察植物的生長。初中時全家搬到市中心居住，除了擁擠的街道和污濁的空氣以外，最讓我感到不安的就是遍布城市中任何角落的監控器，那幾年正值全市安裝監控網絡的高峰時期。哪怕是在空無一人的街道中行走，也總會有一種被持續追踪的不安。大學時，隨著城市不斷的擴張，曾經的郊外如今已經變成了高樓林立的衛星城，結滿花朵和果實的林地變成了鐵柵欄，路燈，電線桿以及纏繞在它們頂部的攝像頭，兒時的記憶也隨之逐漸淡去。這組作品中的半植物半攝像頭生物便是我內心對新舊兩種生活環境之間的矛盾的具體形象化產物。創作這組作品時我正居住於南加州，記憶中夏日郊外明快的色彩被混合以南加州強烈的陽光作為基調，攝像頭從本來應該是作物的地方生長出來，取代了一部分花朵和果實，給和諧的景色添上了怪異的氣氛。
一般來說，植物是做不出“看”你的表情的。而我的作品中的是有眼睛的植物。但是它們擁有的不是生物的眼，而是監控攝像頭。監控攝像頭位於其本來應該存在的位置如樓頂，電線桿之上時，它們看起來並不像眼睛。但是當它們和植物本身的姿態融為一體時，植物的枝葉便容易被看作是肢體，而攝像頭則容易被當作肢體末端的一顆眼球。在拍攝這組作品時我從來沒考慮過用電腦拼合攝像頭和果蔬的形象，儘管後期效果可以以假亂真，但我希望我按下快門之前，這些新生物就已經從我的腦海中來到現實世界了。我站在梯子上取下一顆位置合適的果蔬，在留下的空位中固定一顆攝像頭，並且隱藏好背後的固定物。我選用人眼視角的50mm鏡頭拍攝全部的作品，並使用反光板從而讓攝像頭產生“眼神光”。其結果就是植物和攝像頭在照片中被一種新的妖異生物所取代。通過被選定的角度觀看，這些攝像頭生物具有了緊緊凝視著你的眼神。
一般來說，植物是做不出“看”你的表情的。而我的作品中的是有眼睛的植物。但是它們擁有的不是生物的眼，而是監控攝像頭。監控攝像頭位於其本來應該存在的位置如樓頂，電線桿之上時，它們看起來並不像眼睛。但是當它們和植物本身的姿態融為一體時，植物的枝葉便容易被看作是肢體，而攝像頭則容易被當作肢體末端的一顆眼球。在拍攝這組作品時我從來沒考慮過用電腦拼合攝像頭和果蔬的形象，儘管後期效果可以以假亂真，但我希望我按下快門之前，這些新生物就已經從我的腦海中來到現實世界了。我站在梯子上取下一顆位置合適的果蔬，在留下的空位中固定一顆攝像頭，並且隱藏好背後的固定物。我選用人眼視角的50mm鏡頭拍攝全部的作品，並使用反光板從而讓攝像頭產生“眼神光”。其結果就是植物和攝像頭在照片中被一種新的妖異生物所取代。通過被選定的角度觀看，這些攝像頭生物具有了緊緊凝視著你的眼神。