Exhibited at the Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco
Peach Blossom Spring 【桃花源记】
Borrowing the same title, the work is inspired by a classic Chinese essay Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源記) written by scholar and poet Taoyuan Ming. It narrates a chance discovery of an ethereal utopia where the people exist in harmony with nature and each other, separated from political and social upheavals for generations. Peach Blossom Spring was written in 421 CE during a time of political instability and national disunity, expressing a collective longing for peace, happiness, and prosperity.
Pixelated and obscured, the visual pattern in the work is derived from a short excerpt from the essay that describes the paradisal scene. Experimenting with the process of deconstruction and reconstruction, Zhao works with approximately 2000 plexiglass tiles and 8000 jump rings to create a 5x4 feet installation that examines the physical experience of perception and its connection to memory, place, culture, and personal experience. The ambiguous visual information suggests the ethereal quality of idealism while insinuating our current social and political upheavals.
As a woman of color and first-generation immigrant, Zhao often meditates on the meaning of home and question the idea of belonging and understanding. The pixelation also has a particular resonance with our digital-heavy existence, the Bay Area’s strong connection to the tech industry and its impact on local communities. Living in a world where we look at, consume, and interact with pixels constantly, I often question how this type of existence influences our perception of reality and shapes our behavior and relationship.
Original text and English translation of the excerpt from Peach Blossom Spring 桃花源記:
土地平曠，屋舍儼然。有良田、美池、桑、竹之屬，阡陌交通，雞犬相聞。其中往來種作，男女衣著，悉如外人；黃髮、垂髫，並怡然自樂。
The land is flat and vast with neatly arranged residences. There were fertile fields crisscrossed with trails, accompanied by beautiful ponds, mulberry trees, bamboo grove, and the sound of fowls and dogs. People were seeding and planting in the field. Men and women are dressed in the same manner as people who lived outside. The white-haired elders and tufted children all seemed joyful and contented.