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
深圳是一座快速发展的亚热带沿海移民城市，汇集了来自不同地区的人口、物资与物种。城市中分布着多种外来物种，超过一亿平方米的陆地则由来自不同地区的泥沙与岩石填海形成。非洲大蜗牛是深圳最常见的外来入侵物种之一。自20世纪被引入中国后，它们持续繁殖与扩散，对当地生态系统造成了长期影响。
通过填海造陆，人的足迹不断向大海扩张，非洲大蜗牛也随之拓展着新的栖息地。在干预、改造自然的进程中，人类意志贯穿着无法改变的历史以及不可控的未来。
该项目由art book in china资助
1
Echo
回音
Materials:giant African snail shells, megaphones, concrete, etc.
材质：非洲大蜗牛壳，电路板，扩音器，混凝土等
In a wooded area of Qianhai, Shenzhen, I found the weathered, bleached shell of a giant African land snail and transformed it into a sound installation. Recordings of rain made in several small towns in East Africa play on a loop from within the empty shell.
The rain falls in the species’ native habitat, yet its echoes emerge where an individual snail died. The shell thus becomes a resonating chamber between two distant places, connecting the slow journey shaped by species migration, geographical distance, and an individual death.
我在深圳前海的一片树林中拾到一枚风化泛白的非洲大蜗牛壳，将其改造成声音装置。录制于东非数座小城的雨声，从空壳内部循环传出。
雨落在这一物种的原生地，回声却出现在一只蜗牛死去的地方。蜗牛壳由此成为两个遥远地点之间的共鸣腔，也连接起物种迁移、地理距离与个体死亡所构成的缓慢征程。
photo by Hu jiaxu
photo by Notsoberenought
2
The Lost Boat
无人舟
Materials:lime made from the shell of giant African snail, sand, steel plate, wire rope, etc.
材质：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
