Ranches

This is an imaging experiment between individuals and surrounding environments. The title of this series usually implies the live stokes’ living areas, where ‘human’ is supposed to be superior to them. However, due to the effect of the long-term household registration system in China, people are trapped by social customs and habits, even though there are no physical cages and chains. Therefore, people create their living environments in the restricted ‘ranches’ and use landmarks to determine their identities. This project’s experimental subjects are from littorals of the Yangtze River, including the workers from construction sites, businessmen from commercial districts, actors from scenic spots, and locals who own house properties. They cannot leave where they belonged in the ranches voluntarily or passively, furthermore they forget the option of leaving. The artist, as a spectator, cannot imagine how people in their ranches would face the possibility of leaving. The artificial ranches label people differently, using numerous threads to constrain people in the limited space. When facing any social incidents or natural disasters, this limitation would become more noticeable, and the artist is attempting to use the combination of individuals and environments to bring out the awareness of the ranches that people have been accustomed to.