-- Artist statement
When I came to Shenzhen a year ago, I felt the powerlessness of people living in a huge city and the inaccessible cost of settling here. Shenzhen is usually described as a place full of energy, devotion, and accomplishment: young people are coming here like a tidal wave, but many of them are likely to be pushed away by the next group of people. I have seen some people rise to the top through a wide network of contacts; but I have also seen many more people who have to rely on themselves in a fight for survival. Between excessive competitiveness and unlimited desire, these two types of people miraculously overlap; they share a sense of being "never satisfied", and they seem to feel that life is really not easy, life is really unhappy, there are always things they can't afford, there are always richer friends... At the same time, the high cost of housing and living drives most people to work harder. It’s the phenomenon of 996 (working six days a week from 9am to 9pm). I don't think most people in Shenzhen are living a happy life; everyone seems to be trapped. It's a "joyless economy".
In March 2022, Shenzhen experienced another shock of Covid-19. Futian, in the center of the epidemic area, was closed for about a month. Anyway, Covid-19 has been going on for almost three years now. This epidemic is like a game of Russian roulette. You never know what will happen the next time you pull the trigger. One day after having my nucleic acid test, I suddenly had a feeling. Perhaps this feeling is more obvious to my friends living in ‘first-tier cities’; life under the epidemic is like having a swab inserted deeply into your throat during a nucleic acid test, stabbing and twisting, making you retch, weep, and want to vomit - but you can't. This feeling can certainly be extended from the nucleic acid test to every day of life in the epidemic. And the epidemic has created a new dimension to the perception of time; 24,48,72 hours for the negative Covid result. No one can say how long the epidemic will last. When I had my nucleic acid test today, a friend joked that her throat was developing callouses from the number of nucleic acid tests for Covid-19.
The truth is that China’s economic recession mixed with an enthusiasm for materialism will not lead the economy towards a "new norm". In 2022, there are 13 million Shenzheners (nearly two-thirds of the total population of Shenzhen) living in urban villages; and there are about 1700 urban villages in Shenzhen. In June 2022, the national unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds is close to 20%, and the intense competition between the younger generation exacerbates the internal conflict. When these statistics are superimposed on our daily lives with naked social thoughts and realities, the great uncertainty that is created is frightening. Therefore, I chose to turn my camera on those people living in the urban villages; people who are steering a course between the epidemic and modest salaries, living under the narrow skies and between the tight fences. People’s youth is being swallowed up by Shenzhen, and they are the majority of the city.
This is our daily life.
Yang Zenglin is a practice-based PHD in UCL anthropology department in the field of photography and documentary filmmaking.
