I found these pieces
of wood while I was living in Shanghai where in particular everything new and
expensive is popular. Most old houses are torn down to make room for modern
buildings which rob the people of their heritage and traditional way of living
which is why I print with broken tiles from old Shikumen houses. Lots of things
are thrown away as new is a symbol of the new era.
The wooden pieces
of this work I found in the streets were part of packaging of newly ordered
stuff after the crazy shopping spree of the infamous “singles day”, Nov 11,
where billions of people buy things they don´t need as part of a great
marketing scheme. Having enough money to consume still has its temptations especially
in China where the level of overall welfare is still reflected by the level of
consumption.
These mostly non-essential
things are packaged in natural resources like wood that is used to make an
extra firm frame to protect. To me these trees used to be alive and had much
more value than compared to the package they were converted to.
The second important thought for me when
I collected the pieces was the feeling of vulnerability. Not only regarding
nature that only seems to serve us and has no right of its own but also on a
very personal level. Put together like this with the nails sticking out the pieces
to me build a kind of protection of my soul, my core values. I did not want to
be corrupted by what everybody else was doing (shopping in this instance) or
thinking. I wanted to protect who I truly am and not allow outside influences
to really get to me and change who I really am, to give in to the easy way of
following mainstream.
