A Darkness Shimmering in the Light

Synopsis

Between 2022 to 2023, the artist embarked on four filming trips into the Changbai Mountains and the upstream region of the Songhua River. She captured documentary footage of activities such as logging, hunting, ginseng digging, fishing, and more, using video mediums like 16mm film, digital camera, drone, and GoPro. Throughout this process, the artist not only experienced the changing seasons of nature but also encountered immense challenges posed by extreme weather conditions, particularly the harsh cold, which tested her physical and mental resilience as well as the filming process itself. The film A Darkness Shimmering in the Light portrays the frozen Songhua River as a gateway to a journey through time and space. By integrating segments from ethnography of Siberia and the Xing'an Mountains, Northeastern literature, and folklore into the documentary footage, the artist constructs a series of fictional ecological narratives.