Jiefei Zhan

Capturing the subtle balance between endurance, belongingness and vulnerability, this film illustrates the entanglement between residents and their buildings, questions the existing issues during the regeneration.

Wondering about the source of the neverending noise, I stepped into the rarely used stairwell. Unlike the well-decorated corridor that people pass by every day, only part of the stairwell has been roughly painted—a space of collaged surfaces from different eras. The seams between old and new surfaces can be found everywhere in the space, which is exactly the embodiment of regeneration when construction noises intensively happened.

Based on the metaphorical connections, I built the sensorial link between noises and seams by animating a series of seam images to a sound wave-like movement, then matched them with recordings of daily construction noises. To unveil the seemingly unrelated past from the seemingly immaculate present, I projected the coarsely moving seams from the roughly painted stairwell back into the perfectly painted corners in the corridor. The chord got enriched when recorded noises resonated with sounds of family whispering, key rings knocking, road surrounding, birds singing. They are where belongingness situates, endurance roots, and vulnerability exists.

Conversations started here. The lights breathed accordingly, while the sounds encountered in these corners. Suddenly, one after another, corners were shrouded in the phantom of construction noise. I extended it to an irritating length, then paused it when the audience almost got used to them. The road’s sound creeps in, then the birds sing. They might be shielded temporarily, but will never disappear.

Although most of the construction happened in public areas, vigorous noises can break through the wall into domestic space. Waking up by the construction noises? Normal. The bed should have been the softest nest, but suddenly comes the noises, and the whole space becomes a washing machine. Like an invasion with nowhere to hide. Happened whenever, wherever and whatever. Twisting the feeling, disrupting the communications and entangling with memory.

Exploring a sensorial way to illustrate domestic life under construction, I made daily objects using alternative materials. Debris net, which is visually related to refresh and repair but tactilely uncomfortable, collides with the collaged domestic fabrics various in periods, thickness, and texture. Expanding foam, due to its expandable feature and unstable shape, can portray bodily and mental chaos under the noises. 

The binding methods of these materials are divided into permanent and temporary, in order to reflect the superimposed state of aged and unfinished. I used traditional knitting wool in a clumsy way as the visualisation of noises, then repeated the sewing process to imitate the accumulation of the materials due to the multiple repairs. Needle brought the thread stitching in and out, painfully but tightly twisting the materials, recreating the highly-sensory feeling under noises. At the same time, temporary materials such as safety pins and sewing pins were preserved.

In the final stage, the object’s ultimate form was decided considering the scene it would situate in to complete the narrative. Under the severe noises, family members can’t hear each other when having conversations. The noises became a disruption when they built connections with each other, who had no choice but to bear it, carrying accumulated connections from the past and wishing for longer and stronger connections for the future.

The disruption was built into the memory, with all the precious moments that happened here in this space, with these people and surrounded by these objects. The sofa with several jumbled cushions, as a representative scene where people seat together and talk, became the carrier of such entanglement.

Background only becomes background when we don’t focus on it.

BACKGROUND is a collection based on visual quadrats collected from the hidden space of the tower block.

(Book, 164p, 2022)

Samples collected from surfaces in the ignored corners are displayed like a catalogue ordered from light to dark. I refocus on items from the ‘background’ letting them emerge and take the leading role, recreating the process of focusing on the unexpected richness of detail beneath the new surfaces.

(7 Clay Stamps, 2022)

'Sample Searing' is a set of clay stamps. The texture reproduce partly painted surfaces in the building.In the exhibition, audience are invited to touch and participate in the printing process.