| My work mainly comes from my own personal experience. When people look at my work, I hope they will first be moved, and then they are forced to think. If my work compels them to do that, I consider it a success. I came back to China in 2008, and this is the first group of people who interested me. They are teenage migrants who work in typical urban professions. They live in dormitories provided by their employers. With very low wages, life is tough. Yet they are open and filled with dreams of their own. I wanted to depict this group, but a simple documentary isn’t enough for me, so I looked for solutions between documentary and surrealism. The entire series took over half a year to complete. |  |
Shen Yi
My work mainly comes from my own personal experience. When people look at my work, I hope they will first be moved, and then they are forced to think. If my work compels them to do that, I consider it a success. I came back to China in 2008, and this is the first group of people who interested me. They are teenage migrants who work in typical urban professions. They live in dormitories provided by their employers. With very low wages, life is tough. Yet they are open and filled with dreams of their own. I wanted to depict this group, but a simple documentary isn’t enough for me, so I looked for solutions between documentary and surrealism. The entire series took over half a year to complete.
All characters and settings are real, except the light markings, which I draw on the spot with a flashlight. There are two reasons for the dark night setting. First, these young people work until very late in the evening, which made it possible to do the light effects. Secondly, their existence and their living condition to me are dark and depressing. Yet, their strength and energy are extraordinary; this explains what “light” stands for here. On this consumerism-driven world their simple existence sheds light, just like the light markings in each image. I started with a series of still photography, and then went on to edit a short film with the images.
“Ne Zha” in the Chinese work title is a legendary character in Chinese literature. He is a kid hero, someone with supernatural powers. He is filled with wisdom, and has all sorts of interesting “gadgets.” Ne Zha was my favorite character as I was growing up. When I came up with the Chinese title, I thought of a film by director Cai Ming-Liang, the English title of which was The Neon God, which shared the same Chinese title as my work. It sounded perfect for this series, so I borrowed it. God is the one who governs everything. There is a level of conflict and irony, because these young people who are called the Neon God, are governed by life, left with very little choice. With certain romanticism, I want to give them back their supernatural power so they could determine their own life and future.
