Down the Blue Mountain (installation, 2018)—Video projection onto miniature relief sculptures

Down the Blue Mountain is a sequence of dream-like scenes with a bedroom, the house, the street, and at last, the town. All the scenes are intentionally blurred to leave room for imagination, so viewers can associate their own memories or dreams with the scenes and create their own narratives. The series is shot in San Francisco, where the softness and ever-changing quality of the light and fog engender a contemplative mood. Instead of people, light and space become main characters that tell the story. The title “Down the Blue Mountain” is a phrase from an ancient Chinese poet Li Bai in which he expressed his sentiments for home and romanticized the distant landscape during a long journey.

The videos are projected onto their corresponding miniature wood relief sculptures. As the light changes or fog passes in the video, the relief sculpture and video switch roles of foreground and background.

Each relief: 21in (width) x 12in (height) x 1in (depth)

The Bedroom

The House

The Street

The Town

Four scenes from "Down the Blue Mountain" series

HD video (Left to right, top to bottom):

The Bedroom; 6 min, 16 sec. Infinite loop
The House; 11 min, 29 sec. Infinite loop
The Street; 8 min, 13 sec. Infinite loop
The Town; 8 min, 6 sec. Infinite loop

Production assistant: Xinyi Zhu