Return

This project is a performance work that emphasizes the topic of repetition, imprisonment, and the connection between them. Inspired by my childhood memory of repeatedly writing the same word that I misspelled during tests or homework as a student, I started this investigation to interrogate the time and durance in the process of futile repetition as a reflection of this type of punishment. 

The single character that is repeated in this room is from the oracle bone script, an ancient form of Chinese characters. The meaning of it is “return”, which echos the notion of non-progressive repetition. This character was developed by the observation of rivers flowing in a circular motion. The repetition of unfunctionalized language resembles the notion of futility and the passage of time.

For this edition of the work. I started my repetition at one point on the wall and kept writing horizontally until the characters formed a full circle in this space. The only material that I used besides my body and the wall was graphite, the crystalline form of carbon, the messenger of time. The dark marks left on the wall are not only caused by repetitive labor but also by the friction of time.

Untitled day 30, 2023, 8.5 x 11 inches, Ink on Paper.