If the gods never left
神隐之后
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Have the gods left us? What has become the new belief in contemporary Chinese society?
In China's contemporary society, young people are facing more complex dilemmas than in the past, such as heavy pressure to enter school, unreasonable work system, body anxiety, oppression of sexual minorities, depression and so on. Traditional belief systems are no longer adequate to deal with these dilemmas, and people need to find new belief systems as spiritual outlets. With the promotion of network culture, some characters or topics have been concerned and discussed by young people, and gradually formed specific cultural symbols. They embody the aspirations or concerns of young people and play the role of spiritual belief. At the same time, some elderly people still carry on the folk beliefs of the past in their daily life, and the traditional gods are still their spiritual beliefs.
The work is divided into two parts: In the first part, I extracted some symbols from the Internet and daily life that can represent the inner aspirations of young people, combined with the images of traditional Chinese or Western gods to shape the images of contemporary gods with clay, and placed them in traditional shrines and life scenes to shoot, discussing the plight and pursuit of contemporary young people through entertainment; In the second part, I visited the Daguan Temple and continued to photograph the activities taking place in the temple, trying to focus on the traditional ways in which contemporary older people seek spiritual outlets.
Although different times present different dilemmas, the constant is that people in each age need to find their own spiritual beliefs. Every history was once contemporary history, and every God reflected the social climate of that time. For contemporary China, the traditional deities that are gradually retiring are still followed by some elderly people, while the contemporary deities that have been re-shaped indicate the plight and aspirations of young people at this time.
神明是否已经离我们而去了？什么成为了中国当代社会的新信仰？
在中国的当代社会中，年轻人们面临着比以往社会中更复杂的困境，例如沉重的升学压力、不合理的工作制度、身材焦虑、性少数压迫、抑郁症等。传统的信仰体系不再足以应对这些困境，人们需要找到新的信仰体系作为精神出口。在网络文化的推动下，一些人物或话题被年轻人们关注和讨论，逐渐形成了特定的文化符号。它们凝聚着年轻人们的渴望或关注，扮演着精神信仰的角色。与此同时，一部分老年人仍在日常中延续着过去的民间信仰，传统的神明依然是他们的精神信仰。
作品分为两个部分：在第一部分中，我从网络和日常中提取了一些能够代表年轻人内心渴望的符号，结合中国或西方传统神明的形象用粘土塑造了当代神明的形象，并将它们放置在传统神龛和生活场景中拍摄，通过娱乐化的方式讨论当代年轻人的困境以及追求；在第二部分中，我探访了大观寺，对这座寺庙中进行的活动展开持续的拍摄，试图关注当代老年人寻求精神出口的传统方式。
尽管不同的时代会出现不同的困境，但永恒不变的是每个时代的人们都需要找到自己的精神信仰。每一段历史都曾经是当代史，每一位神明都曾反映着彼时的社会气候。对当代中国而言，逐渐隐退的传统神明依然被部分老年人所追随，而被重新塑造的当代神明指示着年轻人们此时的困境和渴望。
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神隐之后
temple keeper,2023
Have the gods left us? What has become the new belief in contemporary Chinese society?
In China's contemporary society, young people are facing more complex dilemmas than in the past, such as heavy pressure to enter school, unreasonable work system, body anxiety, oppression of sexual minorities, depression and so on. Traditional belief systems are no longer adequate to deal with these dilemmas, and people need to find new belief systems as spiritual outlets. With the promotion of network culture, some characters or topics have been concerned and discussed by young people, and gradually formed specific cultural symbols. They embody the aspirations or concerns of young people and play the role of spiritual belief. At the same time, some elderly people still carry on the folk beliefs of the past in their daily life, and the traditional gods are still their spiritual beliefs.
The work is divided into two parts: In the first part, I extracted some symbols from the Internet and daily life that can represent the inner aspirations of young people, combined with the images of traditional Chinese or Western gods to shape the images of contemporary gods with clay, and placed them in traditional shrines and life scenes to shoot, discussing the plight and pursuit of contemporary young people through entertainment; In the second part, I visited the Daguan Temple and continued to photograph the activities taking place in the temple, trying to focus on the traditional ways in which contemporary older people seek spiritual outlets.
Although different times present different dilemmas, the constant is that people in each age need to find their own spiritual beliefs. Every history was once contemporary history, and every God reflected the social climate of that time. For contemporary China, the traditional deities that are gradually retiring are still followed by some elderly people, while the contemporary deities that have been re-shaped indicate the plight and aspirations of young people at this time.
神明是否已经离我们而去了？什么成为了中国当代社会的新信仰？
在中国的当代社会中，年轻人们面临着比以往社会中更复杂的困境，例如沉重的升学压力、不合理的工作制度、身材焦虑、性少数压迫、抑郁症等。传统的信仰体系不再足以应对这些困境，人们需要找到新的信仰体系作为精神出口。在网络文化的推动下，一些人物或话题被年轻人们关注和讨论，逐渐形成了特定的文化符号。它们凝聚着年轻人们的渴望或关注，扮演着精神信仰的角色。与此同时，一部分老年人仍在日常中延续着过去的民间信仰，传统的神明依然是他们的精神信仰。
作品分为两个部分：在第一部分中，我从网络和日常中提取了一些能够代表年轻人内心渴望的符号，结合中国或西方传统神明的形象用粘土塑造了当代神明的形象，并将它们放置在传统神龛和生活场景中拍摄，通过娱乐化的方式讨论当代年轻人的困境以及追求；在第二部分中，我探访了大观寺，对这座寺庙中进行的活动展开持续的拍摄，试图关注当代老年人寻求精神出口的传统方式。
尽管不同的时代会出现不同的困境，但永恒不变的是每个时代的人们都需要找到自己的精神信仰。每一段历史都曾经是当代史，每一位神明都曾反映着彼时的社会气候。对当代中国而言，逐渐隐退的传统神明依然被部分老年人所追随，而被重新塑造的当代神明指示着年轻人们此时的困境和渴望。
the new gods,2023
tale of Daguan temple,2023
All images and texts copyrights © 2023 Daoguang Wen