Water Tells 水之语
Water memory is the purported ability of water to retain a memory of substances previously dissolved in it even after an arbitrary number of serial dilutions.
水是有记忆的 ，即使在被任意次稀释后，仍能保留先前溶解在其中的物质的记忆。
Artist / Curator Nova Zheng first solo exhibition A Place of Land and Sea, UNSW A&D Art Space, June 2022.
2022年6月艺术家Nova Zheng个展“有山有水的地方”， 新南威尔士大学艺术空间
Simultaneously like and unlike everyone else, we all have strings of memories constantly folding in and onto each other. Sometimes we are so sure about who we are and where we came from, but most of the time we are kind of lost, lost in the calm air, lost in the waving sea. The memory of childhood is like a ship emerging from behind the sunset then suddenly fading into the mysterious fog.
看似与他人别无差异，却又好似迥然不同，我们都有着一串串、一层层不断叠加的记忆。有时似乎很确定我是谁，从哪里来，但更多的时候我们则是陷入无尽的迷茫，迷失在平静的空气中，迷失在波涛汹涌的大海里，迷失在不断的自我找寻中······ 童年的记忆就像一叶轻舟从夕阳的余晖中闪现，随即又骤然消失在蔼蔼迷雾之中。
Migrating from one part of the world to another, diaspora artists are continuing to express their diverse experiences of culture and identity using their own artforms. Artist Nova Zheng is one of them. Overlapping and collision are two strong feelings we get from Nova’s exhibition A Place of Land and Sea. It was her first solo show exhibit in the UNSW A&D Art Space on the 1st of June to the 12th of June 2022.
从世界的一个地方迁移到另一个地方，移民艺术家使用他们独特的艺术形式来表达对文化和身份的多样化体验，艺术家 Nova Zheng 便是其中之一。重叠与碰撞，是我们从Nova于 2022 年 6月在 UNSW A&D 艺术空间举办的首次个展《有山有水的地方》中得到的强烈感受。
This exhibition selects the artist’s photographic works and presents traditional photography through the form of projection and art installations to expand the 2D realm of still images beyond their frames. Walking into the exhibition is like entering into a non-existent dream world, that could temporarily connect us to the memories in a 3D space with mixed time. The artist used black and white prints and moving images to explore her cultural memories of childhood and the reconstruction of Chinese identity in the age of globalisation from the perspective of an Australian based Chinese artist. During Covid, these memories flash in our minds, far and near. This was restructured to be a new expression and explanation.
Nova的个展“有山有水的地方”精选了艺术家的影像作品，通过投影和艺术装置的形式呈现，将静止图像的二维领域扩展到画面之外。走进展览，参观者仿佛进入了一个不存在的梦境，可以暂时将我们与混杂着不同时间区轴的三维空间中的记忆联系起来。艺术家用黑白胶片和动态影像，以澳大利亚华人艺术家的视角，探索着童年的文化记忆，用以探讨全球化时代背景下华裔身份的重构。在Covid期间，这些记忆在我们的脑海中不断闪现，或远或近，这些重组形成了一种全新的表达与诠释。
“A Place of Land and Sea” (2022) exhibition site
“有山有水的地方”2022艺术展展现场
When I walked into the space, the first artwork that caught my eye was the silky white fabric flowing from the right corner and across the whole space to the left with rolling psychedelic slopes. The waving lights climbed on the fabric, which created a texture that looked as if there is water flowing through the rocks. I stood there, holding my breath, with the desire to find myself in the sea.
Communication / Observation / Reflection …
Yesterday / Today / Tomorrow …
Where I came from …
Who I am …
Diaspora
走进空间，首先映入眼帘的是雪白织物从空间的右上角自右及左倾泻而下，自然流动的绵柔，丝质摇曳的凹凸在迷幻的灯光爬满空间之时，荧光通过反射与折射营造出水流过岩石的质感。我呆呆的站在那里屏住呼吸，渴望在湍急的河流中找寻自己。
互动 观察 省思 ……
昨天 今天 明天 ……
我从哪里来……
我是谁……
离散……
注：Diaspora 有离散与移民双重含义，Diaspora Artist 可称为“离散艺术家”或“移民艺术家”，本文尊重艺术家意愿，对艺术家本人称谓使用“离散艺术家”，作者会在恰当的语境中变换使用两种称谓。
Nova used film that reflected off the wall, while allowing the light to get through the large film negatives freely. When audience walk pass without taking notice, they have already become immersed into the story. Hallucinogenic visual experience together with the clear image of Nova grandma’s garden wall, recalls all the great memory of our childhood, which waked our deep memory of where are we come from and leads us to reflect our cultural background.
Diaspora
Diaspora Artist
Australia Based Female Diaspora Artist
… …
Nova 使用从墙壁复原反射胶片，同时允许光线自由穿梭于悬挂的胶片中。当观众漫不经心地走过时，已全心沉浸在艺术家营造的故事中。迷幻的视觉体验，加上诺娃奶奶花园墙壁上的柳叶随风摇曳，唤醒了每个人不同的童年的记忆，当这些记忆碎片拼接成为文化记忆的时候，自我身份的省思便油然而生。
离散
离散艺术家
澳大利亚女性离散艺术家
……
Fig. 1.3 “Imprinting” (2022) Thermal paper, candle, matches, single-channel video
Mountain Views 山之韵
The Mountain sat upon the Plain
In his tremendous Chair —
His observation omnifold,
His inquest, everywhere —
— Emily Dickinson[ E.Dickinson, The Mountain sat upon the Plain, Monadnock Website, Viewed 18 June 2022:<https://monadnock.net/dickinson/mountain.html>
Artistic practices were the impetus for communication, observation, and reflection. Through a tiny little projection screen on the wall, we could see Nova standing there burning the paper in a calm way. She was so restful relaxed and immersed in her own world. The audience must get very close to have a clear look. Life throws chaos at us on a regular basis, but visitors to the exhibition could find themselves throwing things out of their mind for the present to enjoy the peaceful moment with her when looking through the screen. Walking in time, memory of the past always looming ahead through the haze. By looking at the artwork, experiencing the temporary connection and emotion between the artist, the picture of the self-identification from blur to clear. The culture memory like thousands of puzzles trying to lock into each other to make a graphic map of a diaspora artists art exploration.
山坐在平原上
在他巨大的交椅之上——
他的观察无所不在，
他的审判，无处不在——
——艾米莉·狄金森
艺术实践是交流、观察和省思的动力。透过墙上的一个小小的投影屏幕，我们可以看到Nova站在那里，平静地用一支蜡烛烧烤着一卷卷的纸张。她很松弛的沉浸在自己的世界里，观众却必须附身靠得很近才能看得清楚。生活经常是疲惫不堪的，当参观展览的参观者必须专注才能与艺术家交流的时候，会发现自己附身的刹那已经将脑海中的杂念抛诸脑后，通过屏幕与她一起享受宁静的片刻。时光荏苒，过去的记忆总是在雾霭中若隐若现。通过与作品的互动，体验与艺术家之间短暂的情感链接。文化记忆就像数以千计的拼图试图相互锁定，逐步架构出艺术探索的地图，自我认同会随之会呈现出从模糊到清晰的画面。
“Imprinting” (2022) Thermal paper, candle, matches, single-channel video
装置艺术品“印记”（2022）
Installation artwork Imprinting is a multi-artform Archive of memory, using thermal paper, candle, matches and a single channel video to express. Nova used the burning mark on the thermal paper as an analogy of remnants of memory and used her performance of the paper burning to record the memory of happiness and pain. The process of burning took Nova more than a week or so to complete. We could see from the film that the artist indulged herself into the memory during this process, recalling and refreshing the past. Just like a printing machine, the thermal paper export from the screen to being scattered on the table and then dropped onto the ground.
装置艺术“印记”是一种使用多艺术形式表现的记忆档案，使用热敏纸、蜡烛、火柴和单通道视频来表达，制作的过程长达一个多星期。Nova用热敏纸上燃烧的痕迹来比喻记忆的中幸福和痛苦的深深浅浅的残迹，从影片中我们可以看出，艺术家在这个过程中沉浸在记忆中，提炼和重塑了过去。整个装置艺术，有输出的概念，影像就像一台打印机，热敏纸从屏幕的右端输出，散布在桌子上，随之垂落到地上， 在无限的空间里开始编织，编织成一张不断扩展的地图。
The arrangement of the heat sensitive paper on the ground and the infinite extensibility of the weaving have become the most impressive part of the work. Just like the formation of my experience and memory in a discrete state, they exist in a non-linear shape, folded, entangled, and influenced each other, sometimes interlinked, sometimes disconnected, sometimes superimposed, and sometimes isolated. Nova weaved the paper like a fabric with a wave shape like the mountain and the sea in different lengths, like the memories distort others to create new pseudo-memory. The light in the exhibition space reflects on the black and white woven paper mat to create a unique map of memory. The old stories seem suspended on the horizon and slipped their limits. The image like a secret hoop shaping a formless impression. The artist made that up to let us feel standing out of our own story to self-reflect.
Past/ Present / Future …
Where I came from …
Who I am …
Diaspora
Diaspora Artist
Australia Based Female Diaspora Artist
… …
热敏纸在地面上的排列和编织的无限延展性成为作品中最令人印象深刻的部分。就像自我的经验和记忆在离散状态下形成的一样，它们以非线性的形态存在，折叠、纠缠、相互影响，时而相通，时而分离，时而叠加，时而孤立。Nova把纸织成网毯，取材长短不一，记忆的网毯像山海一样此起彼伏，就像记忆会扭曲会缺失从而创造出新的伪记忆。展览空间中的光线反射在黑白鲜明的网毯之上营造出了独特的记忆地图。古老的故事似乎悬浮在地平线之上，总是试图超越了时空的界限，记忆的影像被塑造成了一个无形的网。艺术家让我们从自己的记忆故事中跳脱出来，反向观察，便更加清晰与犀利。
过去，现在，未来 …
我从哪里来……
我是谁 …
移民
移民艺术家
澳大利亚女性移民艺术家……
Diaspora artists often have the same immigration experience, who have migrated from one part of the world to another. Nova is one of them and she carries the culture imprint from the place she had lived for her art expression. To explain the roundness of the earth, artists were trying to mix the culture together, but found the sharpened tip of the compass needle direct them back to the culture which they or their family carried from the childhood. When we try to comprehend the possibility of crossing cultures, great dread may hold us back. Using alternative narratives to challenge and recreate the ideas and structures of the solidified culture memory shows the pioneer spirit in a soft way.
离散艺术家通常有着同样的移民经历，他们从世界的一个地方迁移到另一个地方，Nova 便是其中之一，她的艺术表达具有显著的文化印记。为了诠释全球的宽容度，很多艺术家们试图将文化混合在一起，但却发现指南针的锋利针尖将他们引回了他们或他们的家人从童年时代所携带的文化本源。当我们试图理解跨文化的可能性时，恐惧可能会形成巨大的障碍，用另类的叙事方式挑战和重建固化的文化记忆的思想和架构，以一种柔和的方式展现用以开拓多维的视角，或许这就是女性离散艺术家的优势。
When Nova introduced her motivation of creating the artwork during artist talks. She has repeated many times that her works are all about diaspora, identity, and geography either from her individual memory, family memory or collective memory. Nova grew up in Beijing and lived in Canada for many years then shifted to Australia. All these migration experiences give her the power for her art practice. A place of land and sea gives the idea of identification of our geography landscape of her background, which remind me one of Dylan Thomas’s best-loved poems ‘Fern Hill’. In the poem, he revisits his childhood, using his visits to his aunt’s farm as the subject-matter.
Nova 在访谈中介绍她的创动机时多次重申，无论是个人记忆、家庭记忆还是集体记忆，她的作品都是关于移民、身份和地理的。 Nova在北京长大，在加拿大生活多年，后移居澳大利亚，所有这些移民经历都赋予了她艺术实践的力量。“有山有水的地方”引发了我们识别她个人背景地理景观的兴趣，这让我想起了诗人迪伦托马斯最杰出的诗歌之一“蕨山”中对山的描写，这首诗也是他以参观姑姑的农场为的童年记忆为引的。
Against the hard and pale blue evening sky
The mountain’s new-dropped summer snow is clear
Glistening in steadfast stillness: like transcendent
Clean pain sending on us a chill down here …[ poem from the prolific novelist and poet D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930).]
—– D. H. Lawrence, ‘Meeting among the Mountains’.
在淡蓝色的傍晚天空的映衬下
山上初降的夏雪清澈
在沉稳的坚定中闪闪发光：是那样超凡脱俗
纯粹的痛苦让我们感到一阵寒意……
—– D. H. Lawrence，“望山”
Diaspora’s family memory or collective memory has become a potent subject in art. Like ‘godfather of multiculturalism’ Jamaican-born cultural theorist and sociologist Stuart Hall claimed in the essay ‘Cultural identity and Diaspora’ that diasporas have one that is based on similarities and a unity which comes from belonging to a shared culture; and one that is based on an active process of identification
that responds to points of difference. Installation artwork Imprinting inspirate us to think back these memories to help us to identify ourselves to fit into the community.
而今移民的家庭记忆或集体记忆已成为有力的艺术主题，就像“多元文化教父”牙买加出生的文化理论家和社会学家 Stuart Hall 在《文化身份与移民》一文中提到的：“移民具有基于相似性和来自共同文化的统一性的身份，以及基于主动识别过程的响应的共同点。”装置艺术“印记”启发我们重温这些记忆，以帮助我们自我认知与省思， 从而更好的融入多元文化社区。
Forming Settling and Evolving 形成、沉淀与演变
When I die I shall not have died
Because I have not existed
In your mind perhaps, within the minds of others,
I have moved and been consumed by movement
—- Kathleen Tankersley[ Poet and Harlem Renaissance–era editor Kathleen Tankersley Young was born in rural West Texas on August 15, 1902.
H.Harlem,‘Because I Have Not Existed’ ,TAYLOR POETRY FOUNDATION, 19 June 2022
<https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/158199/because-i-have-not-existed>
The artwork Imprinting has a very prominent attribute. The burning mark on the paper will slowly fade over time. The fading of the mark on thermal material is like the memories that are slowly weakening and changing. As time goes by, the marks will have different details, the artwork will not only change the appearance with the light but also with the time. Ink like black mark will gradually fade or even disappear just like how the stories and childhood memories will be forgotten. Deep thinking deconstructs bipolar notions of the homeland and living country and accept the inconsistencies. It also helps us to understand the fluidities of immigrant’s identities and celebrate life in diasporic third space.
当我死去时我不会死
因为我并不存在
也许在你的脑海里，或是在别人的脑海里，
我已被重塑被吞噬
—- 凯瑟琳·坦克斯利
艺术品“印记”具有一个非常突出的属性，烧痕会随着时间慢慢消退。热敏材料印记的褪色过程，就像是在慢慢弱化和畸变的记忆。随着时间的推移，标记会出现不同的细节，艺术品不仅会随着光而改变外观，还会随着时间而改变。墨色的墨迹会逐渐淡去甚至消失，就像故事和童年的记忆会被遗忘一样，凝思和解构祖籍国和移居国家的文化差异，并接受他们的不一致性。这样的思考有助于我们了解移民身份的流动性，从而能使我们更加舒适的在离散的“第三空间”生活。
Immigrant’s memories are evolving through a continuous play of history, culture, and power. Nova Zheng, not only an Australia based Chinese artist but also a female curator. Instead of talking about religious and political identify of diaspora in a hard way, her art language is very soft. Her art expression could be examined in different political and nationality contexts, since everyone has their childhood memories, and everyone has a land to remember. We should respect the multicultural background people from all over the world especially in Australia. This exhibition examines contemporary aspects of the identity construction of the diaspora from her own angle. Instead of transcultural confrontations the show brought the audience a peaceful space to acceptand, integrate and appreciate.
移民的记忆是随着历史、文化和权力的不断变化而演变的， Nova Zheng不仅是澳大利亚的华人艺术家，也是一位女性策展人，她的艺术语言没有硬性地谈论移民、宗教和政治身份，而是以非常柔和的描述她的记忆。这种艺术表达可以放在不同的政治和民族背景下进行审视，因为每个人都有童年的记忆，每个人都有自己思恋的土地。在澳大利亚的多元文化背景下，我们应该尊重来自世界各地的移民。本次展览从她自己的角度审视了当代语境下的移民身份，为观众带来了一个和平的空间来接受、融合和彼此欣赏。
A Place of Land and Sea addressed issues of a mix of experience and culture’s identity in conflicts by waking up the childhood memories. All these memories related to cultural practice and production which expressed the dislocation, displacement, and hybridity of a diaspora. With the lapse of time, all conflicts between cultures will be minimized and downplayed. The exhibition was Nova’s first art practice, which is powerful and influential. It used multi-media artform though through the self-identification and culture aspect in the contemporary context. Like the artist claimed on interview, this art practice could be an exemplary art piece for her art life, which is a milestone for herself as dual identity as female curator and artist. In the future she could expand from these original concepts using more artform to have deep conversations about different conceptualizations of the diaspora, diversities of history and cultural identity of immigrants.
“有山有水的地方”通过唤醒童年记忆来解决经验和文化身份混合的冲突问题，所有这些记忆都与文化实践和生产有关。艺术家表达了移民记忆的错位、偏移和混杂，随着时间的推移，所有文化之间的冲突都会被最消解和淡化。此次展览是Nova的第一次艺术实践，它通过当代语境中的自我认同和文化方面来使用多媒体艺术形式，具有非常强的艺术表现力。就像艺术家在采访中所说的那样，这种艺术实践可以成为她艺术生活的典范，这对她作为女性策展人和艺术家的双重身份来说是一个里程碑。未来，她会从这些原始概念中进一步扩展，使用更多的艺术形式，就移民的不同观念、历史的多样性和移民的文化身份等主题进行深入的对话。
Message Board 留言板
Her exhibition has opened a window of cultural memories for me, with metaphorical windows of the train and bamboo forests projected on the wall in parallel with the physical windows in the exhibition space. In the centre of the exhibition space, the twisted multi-media installation connects these experiences and memories under the light and shadow, facilitating a dialogue with time and space about the dual existence of “here” and “there”, “present” and “past”.
— Joyce Guo (Chinese emerging artist·Student of UNSW)
她的展览为我打开了一扇文化记忆的窗口，墙上若隐若现着火车和竹林的窗户，与展览空间的实体飘窗平行。在展览空间的中心，扭曲的多媒体装置在光影下将这些体验和记忆连接起来，引发了我与时间和空间关于“这里”和“那里”、“现在”和“过去”的对话。
— Joyce Guo（中国新锐艺术家·新南威尔士大学学生）
Nova used her film to create a great scene recalls our memory.
— Abigail Moncrieff ( Curator · Professor of UNSW)
Nova用她的影像创造了一个唤起了我们记忆的具有感染力的场景。
——Abigail Moncrieff（策展人·新南威尔士大学教授）
When I aware of some of the limitations of film, I am getting more and more interested in contemporary art and conceptual art.
— Nova Zheng( Curator · Artist)
当我意识到电影的一些局限性时，对当代艺术和观念艺术便越来越感兴趣。
——Nova Zheng（策展人·艺术家）
The mountain lives in the heart of the water, the water dances in the dream of the mountain. With promise, life and death depend on each other. ……
— Aileen Moka ( Curator · Critic)
山活在水的心上，水舞在山的梦里。 一诺，便生死相依……
——艾琳（策展人·艺术评论）
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