The State of Being Vanished

The State of Being Vanished
2021, Artist's book

No. 001–003

This work examines the transitory nature of words, thoughts, and objects when subjected to censorship. It explores the state of being vanished by elongating the consumption process of destruction. Instead of portraying this process as instantaneous, the work transmutes fleeting alterations into enduring artifacts—as pages, frames, and books—proposing the book structure as a tool for marking time.

Drawing inspiration from banned books (No. 001, 002) and the complex network of internet images (No. 003), the work fragments these sources into unrecognizable forms, serving as a metaphor for image destruction. The images are methodically dismantled through cutting and folding into a leporello (accordion-fold) book structure, serving as a metaphor for image destruction.

Work No. 003 specifically compares search results between a Chinese search engine (Baidu) and Google, revealing contrasting algorithms and underlying censorship structures. It visualizes censored content as minute pixels on canvas, highlighting how information isn't completely deleted but rather submerged beneath floods of alternative content.

No. 001, 1937, China;
No. 002, 1960s, Tibet;
No. 003, 2021, Google and Baidu

3 Offset prints on paper,
900×600mm,
Cut and folded to 105×115 / 105×150 mm,
Hand-bound by the artists
3 pieces
Printed in Hong Kong

First Published in February 2021, Hong Kong

The images are dismantled through cutting and folding into a leporello (accordion-fold) book structure, serving as a metaphor for image destruction. (Hand-bound by the artists: 900×600mm, Cut and folded to 105×115 / 105×150 mm)