At a certain point in the year 2000, I was obsessed with certain elements in pictures. I felt passionate about distant and close-up images, and wanted to tell some stories about this aspect, especially of those disordered fragments existing deep down in my consciousness. So I had a specific wish to combine pictures, and expected thereby to obtain some images which made sense and looked like something. I have always been unsure whether 'tragedy' is closely related to one's own experience, but 'The Raft of the Medusa' by Théodore Géricault, one of the pioneers of the Romantic Movement, has been unforgettable for me. I read about Géricault's life experiences and his works when I was a student and have always respected him, and I admired his non-realistic depiction of contemporary reality. So the first thing I wanted to see when I was in the Louvre was his 'The Raft of the Medusa', which also took me the longest time to appreciate. After the trip to the Louvre, I also visited Père Lachaise Cemetery to see Géricault's grave. Nearly two hundred years have past, many things no longer exist, while many things also seem to have never changed, as they are still here and appear repeatedly.

The photo shoot happened in a simple flat rented by a friend temporarily, and all the models are my close friends – artists, photographers, musicians, technicians, teachers, white-collar workers, and college students. The whole process was quite relaxing – nothing tragic at all.

The ability of desktop computers to process very large images was limited then, so post-production was a tough job, which was actually tragic, as the whole process of production was all about correction and regret, and the words I said the most during that period were 'How could it be?'.

We have no clue about many things, there are always these messy fragments existing deep down in our consciousness.


May, 2008