Chris Zhongtian Yuan
Close, Closer
10’, 2020-21
Drawing from the artist’s mother Wang Qingli’s 1993 expedition to Lugu Lake in Yunnan, China, the video overlays drawings, archival images, historical paintings, texts and sounds to reimagine Wang’s Lugu Lake Paintings (1994), which were later sold and unable to be found. Structured as an intimate conversation between the artist and their mother, the film weaves together narratives around intimacy, settler colonialism, matriarchy, tourism and art market, accompanied by a soundtrack of construction noise, folk music and pop songs made by the artist. As the video tries to turn Wang’s paintings from low res JEPGs to livingness, we also experience an uneasy interrogation of the complex notion of motherhood and motherland, both personal and collective.
All Trace Is Gone, No Clamour for a Kiss
21’52”, 2021-22
Two exiled beings trade stories of kin, loss, folklore, and queer intimacy as they prepare for reincarnation in a forest. The dialogue between the two characters appears only on screen, as the film is led by a sonic narrative. Juxtaposing analogue film and digital animation, the film traverses key points of both personal and collective histories across time and space. Jazz music composed by British trumpeter Kevin G. Davy guides the journey as ghostly connections between Chinese, West African, and Caribbean migrant experiences are revealed and explored.
Chris Zhongtian Yuan (b. 1988) works video, sound and performance. Recent work has been shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Aesthetica Film Festival, Videoex Zurich, B3 Biennial of the Moving Image Frankfurt among others.
The video are screened as part of Home Is Where The Music Is at Reading Biscuit Factory.
The event is funded by the British Council’s UK-China Connections through Culture (CTC) Grants.