THOUSANDS OF POETRY HIDE
A4 Art Museum, Chengdu City, China, 2019
The first and the most serious problem for any foreigner in China is language barrier. After visiting the main attractions, you face the silent culture. You see only the outside part of Chinese life, but you cannot ask what native people worry about, what they think, how they perceive this world. As a foreigner, you cannot dive into Chinese culture deeper than it is described in a tourist booklet, because you do not have anyone to ask and to talk to. Therefore, after visiting China there is an impression of something incomprehensible and mysterious.
For foreigners the only guide into the world of Chinese language is the Google Translator application with camera mode that helps to see the meanings of the words online. Trying to translate Du Fu’s poetry in the park of his remembrance, I found an interesting effect. The specific Chinese writing makes application to find and recognize hieroglyphs not only in the text, but also in the grass, flowers, buildings, streets, paintings, everywhere around you. It shows how the writing was born in China, because first hieroglyphs were simplified and schematic drawings of nature.
In such a strange way, I created my poem about the trip to China.
The project was created with support from the A4 Artist in Residence International Exchange Program.
