I want to bring you around the world

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I want to bring you around the world

2021 - 2022

This work contemplates about identity, memory, past and future. Family keepsakes mark the passing of time, forming visual reminders of our physicality. It deliberates about engagement and togetherness when physical contact and travel was disrupted.

An act of becoming. A memory of being.

The artists’ family visited the World Park in Beijing and the Windows of the World park in Shenzhen during 2020 and 2022. The Beijing World Park was opened in 1993 as the first global-themed park in China, and the Windows of the World attraction opened a year later. These parks display scaled replicas of monuments from around the world, which exist as curious centrepieces of human civilization in a reversed moment.

That day, you said you didn’t remember what was “home”.

Really? - I asked in earnest.

Yes. - you replied, sheepishly, but with firmness.

I know you don’t lie.

We understand that the whole concept of memory is vague, seemingly personal. What you remember can never be the replica of another person’s memory. Even if both were at the same place, at the same time. Perspective matters. We all develop our own world view, even if we grew up in the same household, ate the same food during dinner, and shared the same jokes before bedtime.

Once, you asked, what do I want you to be when you grow up?

Honestly, I never felt that even as a parent, I am qualified to answer that question.

We want you to be many things, and we also don’t want you to be many things.

But deep inside, I just want to show you the way. I want to show you as many things as I could, explain to you as many theories as I can, share as many anecdotes as I possibly can.

Show you the way.

Show you the light.

Show you who you can be, or shouldn’t be.

And understand that there is a ceiling in everything we do.

But ceilings, while manmade, can also be broken.

We want to hold your hand forever.

We can’t.