The old village center has become chaotic, but I hope it can restore an order as clear as that on a map.
In physics, an isolated system tends to grow increasingly disordered in the absence of external interference, a phenomenon known as entropy increase.
Amidst this land on the brink of decline, order has become a rare commodity. Combating entropy increase has thus become a top priority.
My hometown Yonglian Village is a unique village. The establishment of collective enterprises swiftly propelled its economy and industrial scale to rival that of a small town. However, as land resources dwindled, the village government decided to expand and launched a demolition plan for the village center in 2014. But soon thereafter, the demolition and construction ground to a halt, leaving the area in a state of half-ruin and causing significant inconvenience to residents. This predicament largely stemmed from the village government’s lack of a new land use plan and insufficient funds. Ironically, the new village center stands in stark contrast, with everything in perfect order.
That land was originally a fertile ground for the growth of family memories. After human intervention, the old village center began to fall into disarray, and many family memories were uprooted from the soil where they had grown, becoming fragmented, outdated, and covered in dust.In the first part, I photographed the space of the family 10 years ago and let these objects float in the air, while the photos of the family members 10 years ago were posted on the wall.In the second prat, I visited and contacted the same families featured in the photographs of the earlier project, taking their family portraits with a middle format camera. Then, in the darkroom, I applied a special technique of solarization. It makes the gathered family members form a monument to family memory.This makes the person in the photo a lost soul.
