"Yama" and "Mengqing" are two short films in the cross-media series "Fourteen Plainsongs", inspired by the autobiographical poem written by renowned poet Zhai Yongming to her mother in the 1990s. From the perspective of an individual woman and the lifelong relationship between mother and daughter, the poet excavates the memories and experiences beyond the grand narrative and closely related to China's history, social system, and economic development over the past hundred years.
The poem consists of fourteen chapters. The single chapters are documentary narrative about the mother's life, self-growth, and the tense relationship between mother and daughter against the historical background of the war, the Cultural Revolution, the reform and opening-up of China in the last century. The double chapters, on the other hand, are discrete associations that deal with broader imagery and themes such as night, youth, love, and time. The double chapters are independent of the single chapters and echo each other at the same time.
The two short films each focus on a woman from different generations and backgrounds. They talk about their mothers, the important experiences in their personal lives that reflect the emotions of mother and daughter, their searches and longings. The films reflect on the conflict and interdependence with their mothers from the perspective of the daughters, and at the same time reflect the survival condition of women in China.
The documentary series "Fourteen Plainsongs" is a series of fourteen episodes, each focuses on a woman, approximately 15 minutes in length, each with its own style, yet echoing each other thematically and visually as a series. It is an ongoing polyphonic film project.
Documentary short film series "Fourteen Plainsongs":
Yama, 2021, duration 13 minutes
Mengqing, 2022, duration 16 minutes
Presentation:
August 28th 2022 – February 5th 2023
Exhibition „Forming Communities: Berliner Wege – 道法柏林，而游于外, KINDL – Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin
March 31st 2024 – July 8th 2024
Jinyue Chiildren´s Art Museum, Chengdu Sichuan Province
