| Real life experiences have always been the basis for my work. As such, over the past few years, my work has been closely connected with changes in the urban environment. When I was young, I always felt that my life was intricately linked to urban change. When construction of the Three Gorges Dam began, my hometown was directly affected. It is a place that is very small, an insignificant speck in the entire construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Those familiar sites of buildings, streets and friends have slowly faded from memory. A roaring river has become a shimmering, placid lake. |  |
Migration – Chen Qiulin Solo Exhibition
Real life experiences have always been the basis for my work. As such, over the past few years, my work has been closely connected with changes in the urban environment. When I was young, I always felt that my life was intricately linked to urban change. When construction of the Three Gorges Dam began, my hometown was directly affected. It is a place that is very small, an insignificant speck in the entire construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Those familiar sites of buildings, streets and friends have slowly faded from memory. A roaring river has become a shimmering, placid lake. There are millions who solemnly face starting a new life in a different city, and millions of new apartment construction projects suddenly rising out of the ground. My hometown has already become a giant construction site, but perhaps it is only a small snapshot of the urbanization process occurring throughout China. I am just a witness and observer, using my own eyes and experiences to record this period in history which I have once experienced.
Over the past 4 years, Chen Qiulin’s work has been documenting and recording the changes resultant from the Three Gorges Project, in a reflection on urban change that is rapidly altering the social landscape in China today. On July 8, 2006, 16 tons of wood structure, brick and roof tile arrived at the Long March Space from Sichuan Province. Five carpenters from Zhongxian County, Sichuan Province, spent three weeks on the installation, restoring the houses to their original form.
