The Slow Journey
缓慢的征程
2022
As a developed subtropical coastal migrant city, Shenzhen brings together populations, species, and landscapes from different regions. The city is not only home to a large migrant population, but also hosts a wide variety of non-native species. More than one hundred million square meters of land have even been artificially reclaimed using sand and rocks brought from different coastal and mountainous areas.
The Giant African Snail is one of the most common invasive species in Shenzhen. Since being introduced to China in the last century, it has continuously reproduced and spread, gradually adapting to the city’s ever-changing environment. Through land reclamation, human activity continues to expand toward the sea, and the Giant African Snail, along with other non-native species, extends into newly created habitats.
The project is supported by art book in china
作为发达的亚热带沿海移民城市，深圳汇集着来自不同地区的人口、物种与地貌。这里不仅聚集着大量外来人口，也生长着种类繁多的外来物种。甚至有超过一亿平方米的陆地，由来自不同海域与山地的泥沙、岩石人工填造而成。
非洲大蜗牛则是深圳最常见的外来入侵物种之一。它们在上世纪被引入中国后，持续繁殖与扩散，并逐渐适应了这座城市不断被改造的环境。通过填海造陆，人的足迹不断向大海扩张，非洲大蜗牛和其他外来物种也随之拓展着新的栖息地。
该项目由art book in china资助
1
Echo
回音
giant African snail shells, megaphones, concrete, etc.
非洲大蜗牛壳，电路板，扩音器，混凝土等
In a wooded area in Qianhai, Shenzhen, I found a giant Giant African Snail shell, weathered and bleached white over time. The shell naturally functions as an acoustic amplifier, and I transformed it into a sound installation that plays recordings of rainfall collected in several small towns across East Africa.These rain sounds come from the regions where the Giant African Snail originally evolved. For a creature that died in Shenzhen, leaving behind only an empty shell, the sound of rain falling once again onto East African soil feels like a belated return.
我在深圳前海的一片树林里捡到一只巨大的、已经风化发白的非洲大蜗牛壳。蜗牛壳天然具有扩音结构，我将其制作成声音装置，内部播放录制于东非数个小城的雨声。这些雨声来自非洲大蜗牛原本生长的地区。对于死在深圳、只留下空壳的非洲大蜗牛而言，雨滴重新落回东非地面的声音，仿佛一种迟来的返回。
photo by Hu jiaxu
photo by Notsoberenought
2
Boat without a hometown
无人舟
lime made from the shell of giant African snail, sand, steel plate, wire rope, etc.
非洲大蜗牛壳烧制的石灰，泥沙，钢板，钢丝绳等
In Shenzhen, I collected soil and gravel used for land reclamation, and calcined the shells of Giant African Snails that I had gathered into lime. These materials were then mixed together to create a miniature concrete boat.The Giant African Snail, which once did not belong to this newly created land, together with seabed sediment and mountain rocks used in land reclamation, are now fused together in the form of a boat. They continue to be reshaped by histories that did not originally belong to them, drifting across land that has lost its destination.
我在深圳收集了一些用于填海造陆的泥土和砂石，并将捡拾来的非洲大蜗牛壳煅烧成石灰。以上这些材料被我混合在一起，制作成一艘袖珍的混凝土小船。曾经不属于这块新陆地的非洲大蜗牛，以及用于填海造陆的海底泥沙、山中岩石等物质此刻以船的形式融合在一起，继续被原不属于它们的历史重塑，在失去目的地的陆地漂泊。
photo by 吕佳音
