Goodbye, goodbye — Anya Tong

再見、再見 (外公)
Goodbye, goodbye (ngoi6 gung)

影像、攝影、行爲
Performance (video), photography，installation

2021

尺寸可變 Variable dimensions

此作品探討的是死亡、生與回憶。
靈感來自西蒙．德．波娃的《一場極為安詳的死亡》。
至親的離去，
是難以無法釋懷；
沒能在最後一刻陪著他，也成了遺憾。
讓我重新傾聽他的故事。
把對他的記憶封存起來。
多麽希望自己永遠都不要忘記，
但漸漸地，
它卻越來越模糊。
對一個人的回憶，是有重量的；
它可以像一塊大石一樣壓到我們喘不過氣。
但同時，它又是輕的。
因爲總有一天，
它將隨風而去。
作品分爲四個部分：追憶、封存、忘卻、再見。
第一和三部分將以視頻呈現、第二和四部分以攝影呈現
創作過程即是作品本身。

Life. Death. Memories.

This piece of work is inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s Une mort très douce. The book is her record of the last six weeks before her mother’s death. This artwork is divided into four acts, a performance towards my final farewell to my grandpa, who passed away last year.

Part I: ‘To listen, to remember’. This part is presented in the form of a video. By copying down my grandpa’s autobiography, I slowly learnt more about my grandpa and his story, which I have never known before.

Part II: ‘To conceal, to recollect’. I was afraid of forgetting the memories of my grandpa. Therefore, I decided to ‘freeze them in ice’, as a metaphor for me holding on to the past. By melting the ice, it is an act of braveness, of willingness to confront the fading memories and the nature of dying.

Part III: ‘To forgive, to forget’. People come and go. Memories form and fade. Inspired by the Chinese custom of ‘burning’ objects for our ancestors, this act was a final ‘dialogue’ with my grandpa, a reiteration of his story, a reconciliation with myself and the notion of existence.

Part IV: ‘Goodbye, goodbye’. The papers were burned into ashes. The words and histories were lost. The ashes are heavy, for the many stories that they carry in them. Yet, they are light, for how effortless they are being blown away by the wind. This is a final farewell. The title of this part is also the name of this project, as it indicates the heart of this work, which is letting go.