Faith in Oneself, and Faith in Being Human

FAITH IN ONESELF, AND FAITH IN BEING HUMAN

This one thing Ms. Yang knew for sure: her daughter was to be moved to the class next door. She stood at the classroom entrance, watching her daughter receive praise from the teacher.

She knew her daughter’s skills were beyond this class, and too often she was the template example set for other students.

Hannah was feeling too good about herself – that was dangerous.

Her mother’s strategy worked well. Hannah’s grades in class climbed in a staggering manner: she went from anonymous to the notable few. A certain happiness does in fact come with success.

It’s the feeling of love from strangers, respect from the snobbish, and a sense of security in such an uncertain world. If there was one thing Hannah could believe in, it was that she could achieve the advantages of life by appealing to certain authorities - her parents, her school or her social hierarchy - she knew that to have a good life, she would have to plot her line carefully between these dots.

This line would so influence her, that ten years later, when she is fourteen-hours away from her parents, she would still unconsciously fulfil their hopes. It was by no means painful, until she realised it. By then, she was twenty-five, living in Melbourne, alone.

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You are my mother, as Hannah cried out, you will always have too much faith in me. From here, there would be a new life not only for Hannah, but for Ms. Yang as well.

(Faith in oneself, and faith in being human) Recently, I have come to think of the human condition very intimately. On reflection, it strikes me as to how much I enjoy observing the human, as a subject of problems, from both the self and from the outskirts. The age-long polemic against the nature of humans came to new realisation for me when Mr. P, with the effects of a little aperol and too much techno, insists humans are naturally good. Why is that so? Mr. P smiles, and answers: because we cannot afford otherwise.

This sense of ‘faith in humans’ was revisited as I undertook a design study of Melbourne Zoo under the supervision of Dr. Emma Jackson. There, I looked at how the ways in which we examine ‘others’, animals in this case, naturally inform our humanistic desires for survival.

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HANNAH ZHU

Ms. Yang knew too well that the pleasure of elevation was a short-lived delusion. She knew this when she followed her husband - a poor student just like herself - to a foreign continent on the other side of the world. She knew nothing about Australia then, and now she had lost any interest. She had moved from job to job, life to life, for many years: starting off at drama school, and then getting carried away with this ‘going overseas’ trend. When she realised she had obtained nothing but disappointment, her daughters were already old enough to argue with her. She loved children, really did, and she was a good mum. She knew she needed to exercise some discipline with her two daughters to bring out their thirst for success.

Her daughters would not make the same mistakes she did.

There is more for Ms. Yang and her husband to worry about now - their daughter is again, fourteen hours away, but on a different side of the world. From the fifty-square-metre childhood home in China to their daughter’s laptop in Amsterdam, the latest instructions on hand-washing and mask-wearing are imparted.

Their love follows, wherever she may be. Still, it came as a great shock when she revealed to them her plans. You want to go with this man, whom you’ve just known for a semester, to Berlin? What is more dangerous for them: a pandemic or a stranger - a white man? The answer is obvious. Their precious daughter is out there, somewhere far away… like a kite drifting about in the starry night.

The string of the kite attached to their guts, it pulls with every move she takes. The children leave, and it is the parents who need to grow up - wise words Ms. Yang had always told others, but it would still take time for her to let this one go.

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HANNAH ZHU

MAN F, SEL G HU ONE EIN H IN IN B FAIT FAITH AND

s to r wa . ghte room dau e class eacher t her h ure: od at t rom the nd to for s ,a ef s s ts. i ew s he s g kn door. S eive pra this cla r studen rous.

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for me er’ became productive The notion of ‘the oth ay. This tod e challenges we fac in thinking through the s moved ha tive as the human collec ‘otherness’ strengthens living, of s de mo d homogenised toward domesticated an ture ruc ast infr r ou the ordinary of of with everything outside m ea str r ou e d everything outsid se considered as ‘nature’, an cau be nt eva rel d as ‘art’. The zoo is consciousness considere a form of ‘art’ hin our urban fabric and it is a form of ‘nature’ wit that, there fro habitation. Following m to our understanding of future of the s of attitudes toward appears to be two types served pre is at wh ’, proclaiming that zoos. One is ‘protection . On zoo the e tsid n cease to exist ou and is ‘authentic’ and will soo ns ma hu ere e a total ‘let go’, wh ng the flip side, others imagin eri rth Fu . rld wo out in a liberated nts animals freely wander ab ide res ls, ima an decontextualised these polarised views, the n. stery to human perceptio my of the zoo, still remain a decipher the much effort we use to It is disappointing how in s cie en ore our own defici myths of animals, yet ign ng these dyi stu have learned by self-understanding. We far from are t bu entific taxonomy, subjects - a purely sci ths. my se the h relationship wit engaging in an appropriate

ut and her husband to worry abo There is more for Ms. Yang but in a different is again, fourteen hours away, ir daughter now - thePerhaps e I could sharefifty with uar youe-m anetreexperience regarding childhood hom ld. From the I-sq n of the worengagements’? directio‘appropriate s was in Amsterdam Zoo in Autumn ruction st inst ghter’s laptop in Berlin, the late dau ir the to in China love last year where a number of ring human-animal encounters d. Their made me are imparte mask-wea and make-up ingsocial d-wash on han rethink the we humans have taken Fromn that I ck whe shoon. at gre a as e may be. Still, it cam she er rev whe follows, man, recall ns. You want to go with this she revealed to them her pla What is more wn for a semester, to Berlin? kno just ’ve whom…you wer cage approaching the incredibly grand and incrediblyThe loudans metal ic or a strange white man? dem pan a , ous danger far they filled with parrot-looking birds: it is not bodies, som but ewh the ere sounds cious daughter is out there, pre ir ious. The is obvmake, the of human that fill the space. in Before I noticed anything stringelse, about the starry night. The kite driftingfrom like aapproached away…

The voices alllssides, yelling ‘hello’ in a parrot-accent. es. tak she ve mo ry eve guts, it pul with ir the to d che kite atta The birds ignored them and proceeded to make in their up -- this grow sounds it is the parents who need to and ve, lea n childre still ld native tongue. I felt very embarrassed for my fellow humans. wou it but , ers oth told Yang had always Ms.corner domthe nugget AsofI wis turned onto a smaller birdcage, another group of this go. let to her speaking time for take birds were in their dialect. As I extended my neck to too little identify them, I noticed half crie of the sounds were bye the ays hav alwmade , you will d out as Hannah r, the are my mo You humans for y standing next to mere -wou a pair not onl4-yearsnew lifesisters, ld beofa Dutch m here, the Fro . me in h fait much old at most, each dressed inl.a bright yellow raincoat (a necessity as wel Ms. YangThey , but for nahDutch Hanfor weather). attempted communicating with the birds until noticing my astonishednggaze I somehow interrupted their hum-an) in oneself, and faith in bei (Faith conversation. n very e to think of the human conditio e com havan ently,isI not RecThis anecdote to advocate for humans to oy animals, enjlike Iact ch mu how to ion, it strikes me as On reflect ately. intim self this but rendering obvious thatject in of a pro grown-up non-zoo setting h the bot from , ms ble as a sub an, hum the erving obs‘bird talk’ would have made -lon no sense. whyinst should it ure not make the nat ic aga g polemBut age skirts. Theand from theIt out andsense? the is amusing bitter to think that the first scenario at with P, Mr. n whe me new realisation for came to Zoo of hum the ans Amsterdam is a representation of how humans occupy ans hum sts insi , hno tec rol and too much little ape cts of aLike effenature. the adults trying to communicate with birds in wers: ansthe y is that so? Mr. P smiles, and Wh d. goo naturally arehuman language, we have engaged with animals, and broadly otherwise. not afford ause we can becspeaking, all ‘others’, in a solely humanistic manner. Much can be ok a traced to how our modes of production and lifestyle haveerto drastically ans’ was revisited as I und of ‘faith intohum s sense compared Thichanged Emma all other beings inhabiting and Dr.earth ision ofthe lbourne Zoo under the superv Me of dy stu ign des consequently, we have come to the a setway of ssocial-techno conventions examine we ch whi in ked at how re, I loo n. The ksoare Jac ires that extremely removed from how the rest of theani beings operate. stic des case, naturally inform our hum this in ls ma ani ’, ers ‘oth The pandemic, the bushfires, and conflict with an indigenous past vival. only a few of the catastrophes to come. What could surperhaps forare be next? How can we make this realisation a productive one for architecture?

The animal is just an excuse to examine oneself. Much of my effort had been on how to restrain the ubiquitous power of humans in urban life; or perhaps, how to ‘find’ and ‘curate’ the power of the ‘others’. My time was spent mapping the native vegetation across Royal Park, which the zoo is situated within, and understanding the forces these plants govern (such as their species origins, their heritage status, and the legislative protection over them).

I attempted to translate these indiscernible forces into an ontological occupation, resulting in an elevated walkway for both humans and koalas to commute, with the trees being both literal and metaphoric in their presence. The walkway structure resembles trees, but keeps its distances due to ‘protection’ over the trees. The images I share with you here are a selection of the ones that exhibit a kind of transspecies relation; and without surprise, my humans are all delirious.

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HANNAH ZHU

Despite resembling an animal advocate, I have always been afraid of animals growing up. I was also not a fan of the adventures of the methe course of my e for wilderness.‘the I played play-doh, notctiv mud.

Over e produ becam other’with tion of is a method for The no Thas ay. todnature facewith young adulthood, I’ve come sto we engage g through the challenge ved in thinkin mo s lective ha thinking, rather than a physical sensation at a younger age. As a man col ’ strengthens as the hu , nature has ‘otherness living of by s de mo ‘city child’, ord‘civilised person’, I am fascinated what ed nis ge domesticate and homo e toward to tur ruc infrastWhen thinking about offer - everything other ina than of ouIrknow. ry what rything outside the ord of with eve streamappears ou e tsid these ‘other’ conditions, I feel humbled -r there to be a ou g hin d as ‘nature’, and everyt se considere cau be nt eva rel is genuine carefulness and curiosity outwards, quite new in me - all zoo e Th sness considered as ‘art’. ‘art’ consciou of m for a d an action returns to a spatial past, as if a child had encountered the ric fab an m of ‘nature’ within our urb it is a for there t, tha m fro ing world for the gfirst time. llow Fo . habitation to our understandin of future of of attitudes towards the es typ two to be appears(Faith served pre what is in oneself, ’,and inng being that human) claimi profaith zoos. One is ‘protection . On zoo to exist outside the ntic’ and will soon cease d afraid of is ‘authe ns ma In retrospect,ima I was buthuperhapsanalso go’, where ‘letanimals, a total of gine afraid ers side, othThere ng the flipmyself. eri rth Fu world.between the struggles still exists a libe great parallel rated freely wander about in a nts humanistic animals ls, resideour ima an d of being oneself and the struggles to overcome lise tua tex larised views, the decon these po n. rceptio tendencies. These two tales intend some faith in you, the mantopeinstil l remain a mystery to hu zoo, stil of the ones who also feel afraid, that things will be alright. decipher the to otherwise.

Because as Mr. P mu says, cannot afford we use effort ch we It is disappointing how s in selfore our own deficiencie myths of animals, yet ign subjec theseZhu, Hannah 11 ts April 2021 learned by studying an understanding. We have in g gin ga en m fro far are t omy, bu - a purely scientific taxon with these myths. ip nsh atio rel appropriate

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