GROUND FLOOR: KEY FUNCTION

01

UP IN THE AIR

A 2ND GROUND TO DISSOLUTE MARGINALIZATION

market renovation at Danyang city, Jiangsu province, China from 2020 Jan. to 2021 Jan Individual work Plot area: 31,300 sqm

Motivation originated from a family conversation

One day at dinner, I got into an argument with my family over the arrangement of my nephew’s study space after school. In that moment, I suddenly realized that I had been focusing on distant social issues and had neglected the actual problems around me. If you don’t mind please allow me to introduce you to this place where I grew up. It existed before I was born, and 35 years ago, at the beginning of the reform and opening up, my father came here alone to make a living, then brought his family and made friends who were also foreigners. I remember growing up with the label of being a foreigner in every moment, whether in society or at school. At that time, the market was full of traffic, but few locals came. I played with my little friends weaving through the small streets where cars came and went. When I went back to see it again over the years, the market was still there sturdily under the impact of the Internet, but with fewer cars, quieter, and fewer stores open. My nephew chases and fights with his buddies in the market after school, surprisingly not half as bad as when I was a kid. Time has become a constructed existence here, and I want to do something for these marginalized people, starting with arranging a decent study for my nephew... This project is consist of 2 parts, 1st part, as it is shown in this portfolio and a 2nd part which is still on going, is a thesis documentary, which records the real daily life here.