Xiaochu Dai (Daisy)

Xiaochu Dai (Daisy) is an interdisciplinary and multi-media art practitioner. With an architectural background, she is good at telling stories with space and conveying the atmosphere her works want to express. She uses poetic methods to awaken people's innermost emotions through spatial narration and emotional resonance.

Her practical themes include but are not limited to the emotional connection between humans and nature, urban memory, and ecological landscape. As a multi-media creative practitioner, photography and digital film are her areas of expertise. Though her work she explores new media to interpret different themes, and likes to use “cold” media (new technology) to interpret “hot” themes (emotions, memories), while trying to find a new balance between the two.

In the re-encounter project, she received lots of help from friends from different countries, which got her thinking about what is real communication? Do people of different nationalities, different countries, interpret information in the same way? And how do we cross borders and overcome language barriers to get a really powerful message across?

The original story stems from my emotional connection to the tree. When I was born, my grandfather planted a tree for me. I grew up with it and it was like my family. Until I came to London and saw the hardy tree, the long-sleeping memory in my heart was awakened—the hardy tree accompanied the dead during life, just like my little tree guarded me back then.

Through the photo collection and the digital film, Re-encounter traces one of the greatest London myths—the hardy tree and people's companionship throughout their lives, creating an immersive poetic space. By watching the stories of the hardy tree from birth, growth, dying and rebirth (meeting people again with new life), the audience could re-awaken the emotional connection with trees (the nature). It is the silent company in the long river of life that is so precious.

In the early period of human civilisation, we regarded trees as gods and depended on each other. However, with the development of human society, tree falling, forest fires, we inevitably sacrificed some trees in exchange for the process of civilisation. It aims to invite the audience to think: in the context of ecological destruction today, how can we find our original spiritual connection with trees (the nature) and return to the touching feeling of the initial encounter?