Editor’s note: Themed on “Chasing the Light”, 2025 CAFA Graduation Season kicked off at CAFA Art Museum in early summer. Surrounded by diversified creations, visitors may find that some of graduates chose performance to burst their inner impulses, some chose to interact with the space to build their visual tension, and some got inspired from traditions to bring about more contemporary creative appearances. More young creators are paying their attention to drawing materials from the life around them, trying to capture the multiple realities of emotions, experiences and thoughts...
In these cases, the collisions between individual experience and the external world, between new and old media, as well as between virtual life and real life have repeatedly inspired their creativity that may not be perfect but fresh. In the poster of 2025 CAFA Graduation Season, a symbolic apple is outlined in a constantly changing form under the illumination of light. CAFA graduates who believe in “light”, follow the light in their hearts and present their initial explorations of “what art is” that have been honed for several years at their degree shows. Featuring interviews with graduates, “CAFA Graduates Who Believe in ‘Light’”, invites graduates to talk about their creative stories from a more microscopic and in-depth perspective, and we would like to share and convey the “light” in the hearts of young people through these candid and vivid narrations.
The Monument
By Di Jinjun, Graduate School
The opportunity for my graduation work came from the Residency organized by Migrantory Birds 300. Initially, I wanted to take a group of portraits at the seaside, but I felt that it was a bit monotonous. When I was reading Prof. Wu Hung’s Monumentality in Early Chinese Art and Architecture at that time, which mentioned that “monuments” have always been the core of ancient Western art history: from the pyramids in Egypt to the Acropolis in Athens, from the Pantheon in Rome to medieval churches, these huge religious and monumental buildings that combine architecture, sculpture and paintings reflect people’s pursuit of visual forms and the price they paid for it in the most concentrated way. Starting from this inspiration, I started to shoot this series of portraits by the sea. The characters stood on the pre-prepared pedestal, form a monumental aesthetic, showing the beauty of ordinary people in a more ritualistic way.
Exhibition View of The Monument
Photography Works Included in The Monument
When “non-monumental people” such as cleaners, tourists, and staff members climbed on the neoclassical pedestal, the heavy sense of concrete and the transience of flesh deconstructed the elite narrative of traditional monuments and constructed a Promethean civilian statues. At the same time, a group of typological seaside portraits was formed. My original idea was to actually shoot 300 people and make a picture album. But it was presented in the form of a obelisk when I prepared for the degree show. In fact, all of us are just like screws, or dust, so I wanted to present a grand momentum. This may be more important than individual images.
The tent that Di Jinjun lived when he took pictures by the seaside of Anaya in the first year of his residency
The tent that Di Jinjun used when he took pictures by the seaside of Anaya
The recreational vehicle that Di Jinjun used as a studio in the second year of his work
As a visual preservation technique in the 19th century, the development process of wet-plate collodion photography constitutes a ritual behavior. The physical traces of the liquid condensed on the glass plate form a fault-like dialogue with the immediacy of the current digital image. The creator plays the role of a alchemist across time and space, sealing the modern subjects in the historical developer, making each portrait a time capsule carrying chemical memory. This technical choice coincides with the concept of “unintentional monument” proposed by Alois Riegl, and in the technological re-enchantment, the photography has archaeological value.
Photography Works Included in The Monument
“The Monument” series randomly photographed more than 300 tourists and workers at the seaside. Each of them differ from each other in profession and identity. They all became a part of this work at a certain moment. Each of them is a witness, pioneer, and builder of the new era. The history belongs to those who strive forward. As long as there are dreams and struggles, all good things can be created.
The Installation Process of The Monument (the first location)
The Installation Process of The Monument (the location was changed for the safe consideration)
The Installation Process of The Monument (the second location)
The Installation Process of The Monument (production at Song Zhuang)
My creation with photography is related with the chemical imaging of light and silver salt. Photography is inseparable from light, and with light there is an image. In the entire creation, including life, we should follow the light. As photographers, we have a deeper feeling about the medium technology of light, because the entire photography creation is inseparable from light at any time, and light and shadow are also the words we talk about the most. Maybe from a certain perspective, light is also the imprint of our life, and it is also a particularly important belief that makes us continue to move forward on the road of creating art. Even though we may constantly endure twists and turns, all the efforts pay off as long as we may find the light.
The CAFA Library, which for Di is the most memorable place at CAFA.
Text and Image Courtesy of Di Jinjun, edited (EN) by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.
