The work was made during the pandemic, when I went back to China and stayed with my parents. I live in a very repressed family, my mom did not allow privacy between me and her. At that time when I made this work, I was hurt, thinking about a traumatic land and a traumatic body. I live inside a jail seeking help. Inside the carton there are hiding messages that want to be in its privacy. I want to express myself, my feelings and emotions in a space that nobody notices. But at the same time, there is a desire wanting to play or to connect or to cast out those messages. So I put these milk cartons outside in a place where I used to hang out a lot. I am waiting for some reaction or just to take pictures of them being outside in that space. To my surprise, after I left, someone kicked all of the milk cartons into the empty pool. So I marked the happening/scene around with tape and photographed them.
In Shenzhen, they deliver the fresh milk every morning in these milk cartons. When the milk is consumed, the carton becomes useless. It might be demolished and recycled, but it means that the life of this carton comes to an end. An useless object is both full of emotions and ruthlessness. I need a space where I can put my words. It’s a work about family, education, solitude. It reveals a mother-daughter relationship and explores the boundary between privacy and the public.
Thinking about my mom, my home,
Thinking about containing things that will expire or an expired container. I am revisiting a material that has expired.
Something that is buried inside
