6 minutes excerpt of a 14 minutes video, with sound, 2020
Full video available for viewing upon request
Sound design: Kikù Hibino
when the East of the day meets the West of the night is an experimental film about a shared moment in time across a great distance between my homeland, China, and my adopted country the United States. I filmed the setting and rising suns in two continuous takes, from opposite sides of the Pacific coast. From Hulu Island near Beijing to Half Moon Bay near San Francisco, the cameras slowly move laterally as the sun descends and ascends in two skies that mirror the arc and trajectory of my two selves. The dual scenes represent this state of longing and surrender that has become my wandering identity.
The sound track is a layered combination of ambient nature sound and electronics, as a cosmic reflection of melancholy and nostalgia in the waning warmth of the sun. When the sun from the China side emerges in the lower half of the diptych, my mother, a retired classical cellist, contributes a solo as if to call out to me with her instrument. An ancient historically significant Chinese rock formation named “Jie Shi” 碣石 comes into the China side in the beginning of the video. Similarly, on the American side, a rock formation appears at the end. Both rock formations symbolize figures standing on the edge of the ocean, contemplatively gazing into the distance and through the passage of time.
Videography: Dylan Jordee & Xiong Lei
Press:
THE OVERVIEW: Artist Yuge Zhou on People and Places, Commonality and Compassion, East and West
Video Stills