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Wenjun Chem & Yanmei Jiang

Which is the place of the concept of “subconscious” in your art? Could you map it?

Maybe “spontaneous” is more accurate than “subconscious”, from 2007 to 2014, we kept shooting photos for each other spontaneously. In 2014, we began shooting self portrait and group photo consciously to try to explore oneself and the relationship, meanwhile, we began collecting photos from 2007 to 2014. We knew more about ourselves through these photos. Finally they became the work Me and Me.

 

Nudity as allusion, as a fragment rather than a whole, sublimated rather than explicit? How do you define your approach to nudity?

Wenjun: Nudity for me is a natural and relaxed thing between Yanmei and me, though I still feel shy when show to others and feel stimulated when see others’ nudity. For more, I think nudity of the heart is more important than nudity of the body when I would like to explore myself, and we born with the nudity.

Yanmei: I think nudity just a part in our life. We can’t avoid it. I just want to have a look at me and record the comfortable moment with Wenjun at that time.

 

Walter Kendrick talked about our visual era in terms of “a post-pornographic” one ?Do you think your photographs are part of it?

Wenjun: I don’t know much about Walter Kendrick and post-pornographic era. In the work Me and Me, I focus on having a look at myself and the relationship, some of these parts include nudity, sex and pornography. For me, they are more explicit than imaginative in the work.

Yanmei: I have a similar answer. I think I can know more about myself and relationship through the work Me and Me. And it did. My work focus on self-awareness, intimate relationship and change.

 

“Me & Me”, Wenjun Chen & Yanmei Jiang

Which came first: the image or the word?

Wenjun: We shot photos for each other for years spontaneously, for collecting photos and taking self portrait, group photo to be the work Me and Me, I think maybe I saw many artists shot self portrait as the work, and I thought they were exploring themselves by this way, so I tried the similar way together with Yanmei, to have a look at oneself and the relationship. And for the articles we wrote, are similar to autobiography, for me, it is a way to talk to myself about myself and the relationship. The view of photos and the view of words are different,photos are explicit, and words are like inner clue to interpret photos.

Yanmei: I feel confuse about my life at that time. And I am a photographer, so I tried to take photos for myself. I hope to look at myself deeper through this way. Wenjun confuse too. Later, we began to explore one self and relationship together. And for the literary point of view, although we have experienced a lot together, we have different feelings and thoughts in the same situation. It is interesting, just like parallel universes. Since we have different things to tell, then we wrote our own stories.

 

How do you imagine the illustrations of an hypothetical atlas entitled “The new anthropology of Eros”?

Wenjun: I think there are many kinds of art works in the hypothetical atlas, Eros for oneself, Eros for others, Eros for couples/lovers, even Eros for a lager groups of people. And maybe hate and other sentiments sometimes will be along with Eros.

Yanmei: Anthropology is a expertise field. I thought it need some theories to support the title of “The new anthropology of Eros”.