The Perfect Life, 2017

Sound and Sculptural Installation,

Dolphin Gallery Oxford, Documentation Photography

 

The concept of time has become quite problematic in my life - referring to the fact that I am currently "rewinding" my life and re-living the time that I went through 3 years ago (by pursuing my second degree at this moment). My timeline is off the normal track in which hardly can I find close relevance from my past experience to my present status.  

 

The most profound question that I asked myself almost every day is - what made me to be here? What had constituted my decision on the very first hand? I am curious about the underlying factors that guiding our mind to make decisions towards our life planning and direction. Do we plan ahead for the coming hours, days, weeks, or do we view life in a broader timeframe? This is the starting point of the work. I hope to disable / deactivate / deform the indicators of time, e.g. the clocks and the ringtones and alarms and provoke such reflection.

 

Yet throughout the process, I realised that it’s not just a question that I posed, but time is also challenging me as well. I have been always thinking of “casting a perfect clock”. Yet the perfection is immensely difficult, if not possible, to attain. There are countless of variable factors to be immaculately controlled during the process - the concentration of the plaster, time, gestures of casting etc.  

 

Then I started to return to the original question. My decision to be a student again at the age of 25 may also refer to a pursuit of a perfect life, but is it ever able to achieve? In the show, I had decided to show “failures” there - I guess I am seeking the alternative answer to all my questions in mind.