SCROLLS OF SUDDEN TRANSITION
2020

Chinese ink painting on silk scrolls, video installation
(installation digitally rendered)

Viewers enter a room containing three scrolls depicting a blooming chrysanthemum. Behind the scrolls is an unlit space with footage of the Space Shuttle Challenger, a shuttle launch that ended in disaster when the rocket exploded mid-air. The video is presented in a separate space to allow the viewer to take in the aesthetic beauty of the scrolls before being shown their contextual meaning.

This project is an experiment in using the artistic medium of one culture (Chinese painting) to memorialize the tragedy of another. Originally intended as a collaboration with the professional painter Lin Jinbing, the collaboration had to be put on hold due to Covid-19. The images used in the scrolls act as placeholders until the collaboration can be completed.

BY 开伦