We are all aware of the global pollution problem, but hardly anyone realizes just how much trash we produce daily. I inspired by an artist called Tim Gaudreau who does a project that he takes photos for everything before he throwing away for one year and in the end the photos occupy one whole wall. I record this video in the trash room and it records the process of throwing trash. Most trash are thrown into the garbage can but some are not. In addition, I observe that plenty of the garbage we produce is unnecessary. We all need to realized this serious problem. I also record the person who collect trash.
The subject of my sound art project is the development of Chinese immigrants in America. It related to a dish called chop suey. The origin of chop suey could tracy back to the nineteenth century. Railway company thought Chinese could construct the railroad because they built the Great Wall. Then the company signed treaties with the Qing government, which allowed Chinese to get into US legally.
During that period, they made food by themselves because they couldn’t adapt American diets. Then a famous American Chinese dish called chop suey was invented by one of Chinese immigrant. This dish was cooked for laborers on the Pacific Railroad in California in the mid-1800s. At that time, all the food they had to cook for dinner was an array of leftover odds and ends; they cooked it all together to prevent wasting and then called it chop suey. Here is a recipe of chop suey in early stage. In my sound project, the beginning part is the sound of the mining and constructing the railroad. Then it followed by the sound of making chop suey, including the sound of washing, cutting and cooking. The last part of this project is the sound of train, which symbolizes the success of constructing the Pacific Railroad.
I posted it on social media. Most people cannot recognize the first part sound. As for me, I also never know the sound of the mining and constructing railroad before making this project. They didn’t know the main idea behind this project as well because I posted the sound without any sentences. They were curious about why I posted this sound.
I post the beach one on the weibo that is a Chinese social media like twitter. Majority people know the photo is not real. A few question the photo is true and comment, “Oh my god, is that you, why you become so dark”. Some people say that your photography skill is bad. Someone ask me why I post this photo because I hardly post things on social media. Another person comments that I think you have already started the new semester and why you post a photo not yours. I just reply that it is my assignment to see what response I will receive. “I don’t want to be a laboratory mouse with a sad emoji,” the person responds. I deem that the photo I posted is obviously untrue so it is unexpected that some people believe this photo and think my skin become dark. Maybe they consider I take this photo under the beach umbrella or in the grey shadows. This is an interesting experiment although I receive negative comment like bad photography. I will try my best to improve my photography skill.
