It's no secret that I like art in all it's creative diversity, it's a bit like music, if you only listen to one genre you are missing out on many exciting sounds, a closed mind is a wasted mind right! I am never disappointed when we call in at the Art Gallery WA, sure there are some works that I think what the heck :) but even that in itself is an experience. The installation here does not fall into that category, one of three in the exhibition Sacred and Profane, this installation by Chinese artist Yang Zhichao, 'Chinese Bible 2009' is a magnificent historical undertaking by the artist..
Made up of 3,000 diaries collected in Beijing markets over a span of three years, 'the diaries written between the period 1949-1999, a span of time that
coincides with the first fifty years of communist rule in China'. Incroyable oui! If you have a spare seven minutes :) watch the vimeo here, so worth the watch. I have one of my mum's diaries, it will never end up in a market, I treasure it! Is it seriously Friday already.. where did the week go? Take care and stay safe...
I think the distant shot really reinforces the size of the installation!
ReplyDeleteThankfully there are still some creative people.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! How is it the end of another week already!!??
ReplyDeleteArt? Pah!
ReplyDeleteA well written diary of an 'ordinary' person tells us much!
Just as a visual display I like this, Grace! And to know that they are all diaries makes it more special.
ReplyDeleteThat is such an impressive collection!
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea.
ReplyDeleteYou Australians are always in such a hurry - it's still Thursday over here!
I would love to read some of those diaries...I wonder if the authors felt free to express themselves during that time period when free thought was not encouraged?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great looking instillation. Those diaries span modern Chinese history, and should probably be saved as raw material for historians to study. But just the books themselves look terrific. They might tell how people really felt about the Cultural Revolution, or the Great Leap Forward, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteMakes me think of the annual book fair here!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing exhibit. Like Lowell, I would wonder about what is inside those many diaries.
ReplyDeleteThey would be fascinating reading. What a pity that their heirs did not keep them. My mother does not keep a diary, but I have all of her letters written to us over nearly 40 years. They stack to about half a metre. Fortunately her ten page letters have been much reduced of late.
ReplyDeleteIncredible exhibit! I would love to sit and spend time reading them. I wonder what the people wrote.
ReplyDeleteAn ocean of books and stories.
ReplyDeleteLove all those books!
ReplyDeleteLooks great, a patchwork of diaries! I have my mothers Amateur Gardening diary of 1962 - very interesting reading!!!
ReplyDeleteYou got that right.
ReplyDeleteWe've been to Beijing once, and it's starting slip into our past. I can't imagine anything like this there.
wow great
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely books!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree even if Art doesn't please you it is still interesting to see it. I should go more often to GoMA. That is an amazing installation of diaries. I too have my mothers diaries.
ReplyDeleteI am sometimes surprised by the ideas of the artist
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible collection of diaries.
ReplyDeleteThere's always something interesting at the Art Gallery.
Um belo efeito visual que os livros fazem, gostei.
ReplyDeleteUm abraço e bom fim de semana.
Andarilhar
An interesting installation, Grace !
ReplyDeleteIt would also be interesting to read some of those diaries...
This is amazing to see Grace. All those red books, even the diaries had to be red like the famous red book of Mao. Strange the families brought them to vendors, you should expect they would keep them in the family.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic posting. Thanks for images, film etc. I hope it will come to Europe too!?
ReplyDelete(I have 2 old diaries from my mum, who went on bicycle (!!) from Drammen to Paris in 1950. She was a young student, 18 years old. This was 5 years after the war, and to "see" Europe and life through her "eyes" is for me a treasure! Unfortunately, she died before the year I was 7. Just like you, she LOVED everything French! Luckely I have many good memories.)
I never expected diaries on a flea market, Grace. It would indeed be interesting to find one written in the 70´s.
ReplyDeleteGuess I have to give this a go :-)
Wow, what a treasure to have your Mum´s!
"A closed mind is a wasted mind'" is a very accurate statement. Right now that is so appropriate for our political climate..ah, I digress but the nastiness of this campaign has unsettled me. Back to your blog: I'm struck by the colours of the covers, so many are in the red and orange hues.
ReplyDeletehow interesting is that and i love your photos of it! years back i bought an old diary at an antique store..it was written by an american man living in japan in early 1900's...it was hard to read his writing but interesting..he was in the entertainment industry. i think i ended up selling it on ebay. i used to buy a lot of finds in antique stores and resell on ebay, loved the hunt for stuff!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness me too! I've always had such a wide and as my classmates used to tease me, strange like for so many genres in music, books and movies! Love these shots, especially those books.
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible collection ... 3,000 diaries, that's a lot!
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan