“Dedicate it to those dark, deep and unknown time,
things that have disappeared or are about to disappear.”
Chen Xiaoyi, 2022
Chen Xiaoyi's sensitive works poetically raise questions about human beings' relationship to the land and to geological time. In this most recent series from the Hengduan Mountains, Chen focuses on environmental issues close to her home, exploring the liminal spaces that mankind creates when interacting with nature while documenting local histories through her research and creative process.
The metals and mining industry, irreplaceable in the long history of mankind, are for the artist, a locus of exchanging time and power between people and Gaia. Her images originate in the nearly inaccessible mountains of Southwest China, ravaged for their resources. From these, she produces landscape photographs, video, sound, and topographical maps to create a constellation of elements for contemplation. In this work, mines, tunnels, and ores, exist as metaphorical representations with the intention of discussing the modernity experience, geological time and ecologies hidden beneath the image. Chen Xiaoyi's work draws inspiration from cosmology and expands beyond photography, encompassing sculpture, video and installation to draw a panoramic view of human beings' madness system.
