Dust In Evolution - Fukui House

YEAR: 2019

LOCATION: Kusakabe Port, Shodoshima, Setouchi Triennale 2019

During Xiang Yang's staying in Setouchi Triennale 2019, Japan, he performed his wall carving series Dust in Evolution in a traditional Japanese house - Fukui(福井) House. On the wall of this old house, silhouettes of the figures are selected from old photos referring to history of Japan, especially of Seto Inland Sea area. Every layer peeled from the wall is like a cycle of life — a reincarnation of that person's image. Below each figure, the cut-off scraps are carefully collected and stored in a small plastic bag. Without identity or story background from the original photo, each figure therefore becomes a visual narrative on its own, with its own story. Each is a story led up to the viewers to imagine and to discern. "By presenting the images of local people in this island, the viewers now have become the subject of this piece. There is a sense of the past coming into the present," said the artist.