The Mirror Stage
The project documents and fictionalizes the
retired lives of my parents, a typical working-class family in the city of
Chongqing. During home visits in recent years, I was struck by the aging of my
parents. Observing their retired lives evokes an intense feeling of
strangeness. They are so far removed from the vivid image of the caregivers and
protectors in my memory and their relationship has grown alienated and
unfamiliar. At the same time, what I have inherited from them feels more
present than ever. Beliefs, desires, expectations, and fears are passed down
through generations in an almost mirrored way.
According to Jacques Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage, the faces of parents are the first mirrors for the infant in his development of selfhood. The mirror stage represents a state of absolute proximity preceding the emergence of boundaries between self and other. I materialize Lacan’s theory by transforming the bodies of my parents into a constellation of mirrors that reflect one another. The mirrored bodies evoke the way an infant perceives the world around him while the lens I directed at my parents became the gaze of an infant, exploring the family as his first mirrors. The gaze is far from a neutral observer, as the unconscious distorts and fictionalizes in unexpected ways.
According to Jacques Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage, the faces of parents are the first mirrors for the infant in his development of selfhood. The mirror stage represents a state of absolute proximity preceding the emergence of boundaries between self and other. I materialize Lacan’s theory by transforming the bodies of my parents into a constellation of mirrors that reflect one another. The mirrored bodies evoke the way an infant perceives the world around him while the lens I directed at my parents became the gaze of an infant, exploring the family as his first mirrors. The gaze is far from a neutral observer, as the unconscious distorts and fictionalizes in unexpected ways.
