Private Memories, part of Lin Jingjing's Public Privacy.
Some of the 90 photos collected from artist Lin Jingjing's old family photo album are placed in drawers that have been pulled out from an old Chinese-style medicine cabinet. Other drawers remain in place, closed in the cabinet. The faces in the photos have been removed.
It is one of the artist's installations at her solo exhibition Public Privacy in 798's White Box Museum of Art. The photos are of her family, mostly taken across the whole 20th century of her grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts and even herself. She placed each photo in the drawers and then arranged them in rows on the floor.
"Though these yellowing photos come in many forms, they all are related to me, part of my memory. If they are kept in the chest, no one knows they are there. It's quite similar to our memory system which allows you to remember many things but only when you pull out that drawer, you will recall," artist Lin Jingjing said.
A family photo album is usually a private collection but when the faces were removed and only trees, buildings, gardens and scenes left as background remain, then it has been transferred to something public, which is shared by all people.
A portrait of one of Lin's ancestors. Photos: Li Ruya
"At the beginning, I did it just to keep our family privacy. But I realized it is a good way to allow us to travel among the old years when being photographed. Like a time-travel installation," she added.
Lin worked on painting in early years. But then she showed great interest in the issue of privacy. She attempts to incorporate her ideas about private and public life into her artworks. After creating the family photo installation, Private Memories, she continued to create another photo work, called CCTV News, part of the Nobody Knows I Was There, Nobody Knows I Was Not There series, also on display at White Box. In photos taken from the news media, the main figures have been replaced with shadows. No one knows who they are, but he or she acts like the core person, influencing those around them.
"With her feminine sensitivity, Lin Jingjing has been creating arts on the theme of Public Privacy. When individual privacy encounters a public setting, it faces the danger of being invaded or swallowed up at any moment. But when private secrets are turned into public privacy, they become inextricably linked to public benefit. Perhaps, this is Lin's thinking on privacy," said curator Gu Zhenqing.
Where: White Box Museum of Art, 798 Art Zone
When: Until July 5th (10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday to Sunday)
Contact: 5978-4801
