Ziqi Cheng
Documentation
The entire Unit 2 project was an experiment in creativity. During this period, my experiments with each material resulted in the final work, and this is what I did to retain the images in my memory.
Point and line to plane
On my flight to Montenegro in February 2023, I gazed out the plane window: innumerable trees were lighted by the sun, and their shadows were cast on the mountains in the shape of a horizontal and vertical cross. What I observed at that moment inspired this project. The mountains' trees were like dots, and the rocks were like lines. Montenegro's mountains became the subject of my camera after I perceived them as a drawing of dots and lines. The textures were so exquisite that I used my camera not only to capture the picturesque mountains in my mind, but also to consider how to draw them.
Cameras and photographs are the most direct and effective ways of recording physical items. I treasured and feared losing these beautiful scenes; therefore, I photographed them again and again and tried my best to remember them with my eyes and brain. However, memories are usually deviated and cannot always be retained in their original form as time passes, so I wanted to utilise drawing to represent the mountains as they were, record my personal recollections, and demonstrate how they have changed.
I then went on several field trips to collect various mountains and record their textures in sketchbooks. I became obsessed with the textures of these mountains and the act of recording began to become a way of storing my memories, which was also a creative process.
When I returned home, I started experimenting with different creative methods and instruments to recreate the mountains I had seen, such as drawing materials, etching, printing, and video recording performances. I enjoyed the feeling and process of experimenting with memory, and the differences that resulted from each experiment showed how memory changes, deviates, and reorganises. As a result, the Unit 2 project provided a unique opportunity for me to experiment with materials and memory display.
Photos I took while travelling, 2023
Filet Show
Initially, I processed the images in black and white and modified the colour curves to make the contours and textures more obvious, which was similar to what I viewed as 'drawing': just contrasting black and white, dots, lines, and surfaces, similar to a drawing.
Black and white mountains, 2023
Mountains and Mountains (2023), my first attempt at this, was shown at the Filet Show, and I divided the work into three parts: photograph, blank, and drawing. By collaging manipulated black and white mountains onto a black canvas, one part of the mountain becomes blank, and the other part is drawn with a technical pen to create the texture of the mountain. In this way, I explore the relationship between the photograph and the drawing and look for ways to represent the texture.
Mountains and Mountains, 2023, Collage, acrylic, ink on paper, 7 x 7cm
I then experimented in my sketchbook.
Sketchbook experiments
Extracting the texture of the mountain and drawing it in charcoal.
Sketchbook experiments Page 1, 2023, Collage and charcoal on sketchbook, 296mm x 210mm
Memories deviate throughout time and can no longer be replicated exactly as they are in reality. To show the changes in memory, I chose to fabricate them: two images were combined to construct a new mountain, while the sky was painted white and just the outline of the mountain was kept.
Sketchbook experiments Page 2, 2023, Collage and acrylic on sketchbook, 296mm x 210mm
I chose a photograph that I liked and edited it in black and white to bring out the textures on the mountain. I attempted to draw it with a technical pen, but the results were less than satisfactory.
Sketchbook experiments Page 3, 2023, Photography and pen on sketchbook, 296mm x 210mm
I cut white paper into various shapes and glued them over the photograph after processing it in black and white. As a result of this act, the shape of the mountain changed; my memory does not properly recover all of the characteristics of the mountain, including its shape. I experimented with magnetic powder in the bottom right-hand corner of the sketchbook. The fine powder replicates the texture of the mountains and is moved with a magnet placed under the paper to modify the shape of the powder, similar to a floating, fading, and changing memory.
Sketchbook experiments Page 4, 2023, Collage and magnetic powder on sketchbook, 296mm x 210mm
Magnetic powder drawing, 2023, Magnetic powder on paper, 10 x 6.5cm
Sketchbook experiments Page 5,6, 2023, Photography and acrylic on sketchbook, 296mm x 210mm
More attempts are made to use white to cover the sky and to highlight the mountains without excess colour, which gives the image a greater sense of power.
Attempts to fabricate the mountains in memory represent the uncertainty and restructuring of memory.
Sketchbook experiments Page 7, 2023, Collage on sketchbook, 296mm x 210mm
Bargehouse Show
The work on display at Bargehouse is part of the outcome of my sketchbook experiment: the use of fabricated mountains to represent the unfixed and reconfigurable character of memory. I attempted to create a new mountain out of more pictures. Is our memory always correct? I couldn't recall the exact contour and outline of any peak in this massive collection of images. I printed out this fabricated mountain and drew over it with black paint, doing my best to cover up the 'composite' borders.
Mountain! Mountain!: Experiments (1), 2023, Acrylic on print, 100 x 28cm
Mountain! Mountain!: Experiments (2), 2023, Acrylic on print, 42 x 29.7cm
Scroll of Memories
I recorded the same mountain in five different ways to show its textures, but as the time of completion and the materials and methods used changed, the mountain became different from the original photograph, so I arranged the five works as a scroll, as if my memory were fading and fading.
Scroll of Memories, 2023, photograph, etching, magnetic powder, gel print on paper, 297 x 210cm
This is the beginning of everything, the first memory, and the closest to reality.
Scroll of Memories: Part 1, 2023, Photography, 594 x 420mm
The black and white mountain with a white sky. This was the image that sprang to mind when I first saw the mountain, the texture of which was stunning.
Scroll of Memories: Part 2, 2023, Photography, 594 x 420mm
Scroll of Memories: Part 3, 2023, Etching, 594 x 420mm
Mountain 1, 2023, Etching, 14 x 12cm
Then, in order to experiment with texture and drawing methods further, I chose to try etching, which enables fine lines to reveal the subtle textures of the mountains. I didn't follow the photo perfectly when sketching on the zinc plate, instead relying on my memories and my own understanding of the textures, so you can see that I've drawn each part of the final mountain in a different way.
I mixed magnetic powder with gum arabic and used it as paint on paper. I then move the magnet under the paper, causing the form and direction of the powder to change, as well as the memory to change with voluntary or involuntary awareness. The fine texture generated by the powder is very close to the effect I wish to accomplish in the picture.
Scroll of Memories: Part 4, 2023, Magnetic powder, charcoal on paper, 594 x 420mm
Magnetic powder mountain, 2023, Magnetic powder, charcoal on paper, 210 x 148mm
Gelatin prints are the most direct and convenient way to print photographic images, but they cannot reproduce many of the extremely tiny details in a photograph. I failed multiple times while experimenting, and the prints were imperfect, illustrating the fading of memory.
Scroll of Memories: Part 5, 2023, Gel print, 594 x 420mm
Gel print: mountain, 2023, Gel print, 210 x 148mm
Collage: To fake a mountain
An extension of the creation: a randomly made mountain.
To fake a mountain, 2023, Collage, 594 x 420mm
Experimental Video
The experimental video is a kind of extension of the project that I worked on. Memory alteration and restructuring: how accurate is your memory?
I shot two videos at the start of the production.
1. Memory can deviate from what was originally seen over time, and what is recalled may not be real; it has been reassembled by memory, so I shuffled and randomly combined the photographs of the mountains taken as if I were playing cards, forming various different mountains, all of which are faked by memory, representing memories that are no longer real.
2. Memory is fluid; it can be changed and tampered with, and when a magnet is placed beneath the canvas, the shape of the magnetic powder can easily changed.
I ended up editing the two videos together.
How do I remember?, 2023, Video, 5min30s