Reflective World

Video, 2020

As I lived or traveled in China, Vietnam, and the United States, I was drawn to the images of their respective reflective surfaces and started collecting these videos randomly. I found that, in the reflection, there was a space that belonged to no one. Both time and space are distorted. But at the same time, you can see people, buildings, where we live, etc., in the reflection.

Physically, what we see in the mirror is a virtual image, not an actual image. And the existence of this image depends on whether there is an observer or not. Reflections from the environment and objects can also become distorted due to uneven surfaces. As an observer, the space I see is distorted in real-time. The angle at which my vision is refracted changes as I move. When the reflective surface is protruding, the reflection speed of the object slows down. Because at the same time, the distance the object moves in the reflection gets shorter.

Interestingly, we can glimpse the environment in which we live and the activities of those around us from this space. For example, the water surface reflects the sky and the trees; through the bus window, you can see the people riding the bus, and the window also reflects the city; the train passing through the street reflects the people and houses on the roadside; from human eyes, we can see the screen he is looking at.

Light and shadow intertwined in this real or unreal world, and busy people are always there.