Talk about Body

"This work is totally imaginary, and it comes from my personal experience. During my creative process, two aspects could be highlighted, body and politics. I've always held my ethnical identity in doubt, so I invited a biological anthropologist to analyze my body, whose analysis I have referred to a great deal in my work.

Almost all my starting points were about the specific human living existence; therefore, I created this work based on my own state of existence. Besides researching biological anthropology, for Talk about Body I also carried out some studies on photography, including the layout of figures, timing control, etc.

Regarding the form, I tried to add a sense of ritual to the scene, simulating a farewell gathering of an elderly person. In terms of content, I intentionally created all kinds of misplacement. For instance, I deleted my voice and used the recording of an elderly lady. Even though I played the leading role, I did not use my own voice; therefore, 'my' image portrayed in the video is not complete either.

With this work, I hope to eliminate or separate the religious, social, spiritual, and emotional attributes from my body through my narration, and to arouse people's thinking towards the spiritual and physical body.

Facing the acceleration of globalization, the gap between a 'highly spiritual religious totalitarian country' and a 'highly material atheist country' is almost unbridgeable. Thus, I'd like to seek a balance starting from an introspection of my own body."

Hui Tao in a statement to PLATFORM:VB (July 2015)