cusp.talk : Sophie Tianxin Chen
I, etcetera, 2013-2015Please introduce yourself first ～ (For example, where do you live, your educational background, when did you become interested in art, or any content)
可以先简单介绍一下自己吗：）你现在居住在哪里，你的教育背景，从什么时间点开始对图像产生了兴趣，同时也可以是任何想说的。
Sophie Tianxin Chen ：
I was born and raised in China, lived there until I was 15. Between the age 2-14, my mother faithfully took me to a dance school every Saturday. So performance was actually the first form of art that I was ever introduced to.
When I turned 14 I did what any troubled teenager would do: I ran away from home, joined an all-girl punk band, dropped out of school, stole money from my parents, made friends they didn’t approve of. For about a year I lived on my own. With the money I stole I bought a CD player and a portable DVD player so every night I would go to the bootleg vendors to flip through piles of decommissioned CDs and illegal copies of art house films. I think that was absolutely the best time of my life. I became obsessed with foreign films by directors such as Peter Greenaway , Kim Ki-Duk and Pedro Almodovar.
This led me to take theater classes throughout high school (which I attended in Singapore and Canada). In 2007 I attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago but after a couple of years studying film I realized that the US would be the worst place for the kind of films that I was interested in making. I am also an introvert and I struggle with ADHD, so working on the same project with a large group of people was just not my nature. So I turned to photography, where you can work in a more solitary way. In 2014 I graduated from University of California with a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and upon graduation I found myself making a living as a photo producer making content for fashion and lifestyle companies. Now I live in Los Angeles with my daughter, boyfriend, dogs and cats.
我出生于中国，15岁之前一直居住在那里。在我2到14岁这期间，妈妈每周六都会带我去学习专业舞蹈，所以说舞蹈表演是我接触到的第一种艺术形式。
在我14岁时，我做出了任何一个困惑少年都会做的事情：离家出走，加入一个全女子朋克乐队， 辍学，从父母那里偷钱，结交了他们不赞成结交的朋友，我甚至一个人在外居住了大约一年的时间。我用从爸妈那里偷来的钱买了一个CD播放器和一个便携式DVD播放器，每天晚上都会带着它们去盗版商那儿试听/看成堆的废弃CD和艺术电影的非法复制品。那时绝对是我一生中最美好的时光。也是从那时起，我迷上了Peter Greenaway、Kim Ki-Duk、 Pedro Almodovar等导演的电影。
整个高中阶段(我是在新加坡和加拿大上的高中)都选修了戏剧课。2007年我进入芝加哥艺术学院电影系学习，但在学习了几年电影之后，我逐渐意识到，美国是一个非常不适合小众电影制作的地方。同时，由于我是一个性格比较内向的人，所以和一大群人一起做同一个项目并不适合我。当我明白了这些以后，我开始转向摄影，因为它比较可以让我以独立地方式表达我的想法。2014年，我获得了UCLA的摄影艺术硕士学位。毕业后，我以时尚类创意制片人的身份谋生。平时也会自己创作。
I, etcetera, 2013-2015
cusp. :
How would you describe your creation? (For example, commonly used media and techniques, focus on themes, visual style, etc.)
你会怎样讲述自己的创作：）
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
I mostly use a 4x5 camera for my personal work and make straight photographs. A few times in grad school I have tried to explore other mediums. Later I realized It was more of an empty exercise solely caused by anxiety and it’s very obvious when someone makes work out of anxiety. So now I am content with just taking photographs (although I have always wished I could paint). I borrow common household objects and use them as props in my photographs. The setup is more improvised than deliberate. They are not what you would call the “table top” photographs. I want the set-ups to be something that I would actually do in my daily life subconsciously and not just for the purpose of making work. For example, I have stacked dirty plates in a pile and pressed them down to squeeze the food out when I am doing dishes in the sink. Besides household items, I also photograph myself posed or decorated with objects, but I never consider them to be portraits as I treat my body like any other object. I, the photographer, order the body to be naked, upside down and awkward. The result comes out to be orchestrated but with roughness and crudeness. As for styles, what I make does not always align with my taste. This took me years to realize then I learnt to liberate and eventually embrace it. So in the last few years the work has become visibly more vulgar.
我在进行个人创作时一般用4x5大画幅相机。在研究生院时，我有几次尝试着探索其他媒介。后来我意识到这更多的是一种由焦虑所导致的空洞练习。你知道，在这个世界上，有许多人是因为焦虑而工作，这很有意思！所以我现在对只用“摄影”这个媒介感到满足。尽管我一直希望我能画画。
我会借用一些普通的家居用品作为道具。这种设置对于我来说更多的是即兴的，而不是刻意的。它们不是通常情况里的那种“桌面摆拍”的照片。我希望这些设置是我在日常生活中或我的潜意识里会做的事情，而不仅仅是为了创作而做的事情。
例如，当我在水槽里洗碗时，我会很下意识地把脏盘子堆成一堆，然后把盘子从上往下压，把⻝物挤出来。除了借用家居用品当道具外，我还会拍摄自己，但我会自我“物化”，所以我从不认为这些照片是肖像。我是一名摄影师，我让我的身体颠倒或赤裸从而捕捉其尴尬。虽然拍摄的过程通常是通过策划的，但照片释放出来的效果却是粗糙和具有天然性的。
至于⻛格，我做的东⻄并不总是与我的品味一致，关于这一点，我花了很多年才意识到。然后我学会了释怀，最终拥抱它。所以在过去的几年里，我认为我的的作品明显变得更接地气了。
Plates and Sauces, 2018
Armpit City, House Objects
cusp. :
What cultural/factors have influenced your creation? (e.g. literature, movies, music, games, architecture, etc.)
可以告诉大家你创作受到哪些文化和因素的影响吗？
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
Dance, art house films, literature, music (I have a wide range of taste for music, such as German industrial, noise, indie-pop, Tuvan folk songs and J-pop. I just don’t have the ears for rap or country.)
舞蹈、艺术电影、文学、音乐(我喜欢各种音乐，如德国工业噪音、Indie Pop、图瓦⺠歌和J-pop。我只是不喜欢说唱或乡村音乐。haha)
Armpit City, Family Potraits
cusp. : Can you introduce one or two of your own works/projects in detail?
能否详细介绍自己的 1、2 件作品/项目?
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
I Have No Memories of You
To make photographs, I have placed a button in my belly button, thrown a drowned water bird into a hole, and pressed my bare face onto a cactus. My work is born from personal experiences and observations, whether childbirth, immigration, or gender expectations. Instead of relying on straightforward autobiography or documentation, I depict heightened emotional states and unsettling scenarios via props, performance, and simulated effects. In the series I Have No Memory of You, I wore boys’ clothing backwards, covered my face in a paper mask, and leaned on crutches to embody the aborted siblings I might have had without China’s One-Child Policy. These overlapping personas create a storyline which speaks not only to the grief of loss but also to a bitter humor and poignant ambiguity, undercurrents which pervade my work and worldview.
Armpit City
In my series Armpit City, my recent life’s peaks and valleys, such as a divorce, the birth of my daughter, a new marriage, and a second divorce, all unfold around my suburban single-family home in Southern California. These works were born out of the desire to puncture my routine as a mother and a wife, and to depict rhythms of domestic existence that are more often kept private. Each piece was shot with a 4x5 large format camera around my home, whether in my backyard patio, my daughter’s room, or my driveway, with the aim of sidestepping the contrivances of a studio setting while maintaining an understated theatricality. Their elaborate staging and ardent improvisation allow the works to oscillate between the poetic and the vulgar.
I Have No Memories of You
拍摄这幅作品，我在肚脐眼儿里放了一颗纽扣，把淹死的水⻦扔进一个洞里，让我的脸被仙人掌揉搓。我的作品诞生于个人经历和观察，无论是分娩、移⺠还是性别期望。我不依靠直接的“自传式”创作，而是通过道具、表演和模拟效果来描绘出高度的情绪状态和某些不安的场景。在 I Have No Memories of You 系列中，我故意把男孩的衣服穿反，让观众或许隐约可以看见女性隆起的胸部，用纸面具遮住脸，拄着拐杖，我想以此来表现中国的独生子女政策和我可能有的那（些）被流产的兄弟姐妹。这些重叠的⻆色，创造了一个故事情节，这个故事情节不仅表达了我失去亲人的悲痛，也表达了某种苦涩的幽默和凄美的模糊性。总之，在我的作品里，总是有某些暗流充斥在其中，当然它们也流淌在我的世界观里。
Armpit City
我的系列作品 Armpit City 是关于我生活中的高峰和低谷，如女儿的出生、结婚又离婚，它们都围绕着我在南加州方的住宅中展开。这些作品的诞生，是出于我作为一个母亲和妻子却希望刺破这常规生活以及这样的身份的愿望，我想要赤裸裸地描绘出一个通常隐蔽的家庭生活。每件作品都是我用4x5大画幅相机在我家附近拍摄的，无论是在我家后院还是在我女儿的房间里抑或是在我的停车道上，我都有意识地避开工作室环境对我的“干扰”，让我的作品保持一种低调的戏剧性。这些被我精心设计的舞台以及我热情的即兴创作，使得我的作品在诗意和粗俗之间呈现出一副摇摆不定性。
4th of July, 2012
cusp. :
Can you introduce your life and creative state? What are your special work habits? (It can include inspiration collection, daily work habits, the process from inspiration to realization, etc.)
可以讲述一下你的生活和创作状态?
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
There is no clear distinction between life and work in my case. They are very much blended together. I keep a list of ideas that I thought would be interesting as photographs. They are mostly from my daily observations as a home-bound introvert. I do my best to recreate the scenes, or rather, to reflect the psychological spaces that I was in, but I do not obsess on being exact. I let improvisation take its turn.
以我这个个例来说生活和创作之间是没有明显区别的。它们在很大程度上是融合在一起的。我保留了一份我认为可以做成作品的想法的清单。它们大多来自我作为一个内向宅女的日常观察。在创作过程中，与其说重现这些场景，我更加在乎作品是否能呈现当时那个特定的心理空间，所以我并不会呆板地处理它们。我喜欢即兴发挥。
Armpit City, Family Potraits
cusp. :
What are your daily hobbies?
你每天的习惯是什么？
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
Right now I have 7 animals, 2 of them I brought up as puppies, then my boyfriend moved in with two cats during Covid. His parents are biologists so he is very good with all things living. Naturally we started rescuing abandoned animals. The rest of 5 were intended to be fosters but just stayed for too long. Now we can’t live without them.They are a big part of my life. My daily hobbies include feeding these animals, cuddling with them, playing with them, observing them and analyzing them.
现在我有七只动物，其中的两只狗是我从小养大的。疫情期间，我的男朋友又带来了两只猫。他的父母都是生物学家，因此他对照顾动物很在行，我们就开始做一些救助。现在的固定宠物就是7只了，多出来的那几只被我们中途了很久依然无人问津，于是就慢慢变成我们家的固定人员。它们都是我生活中重要的组成部分。我的日常爱好包括喂养这些动物、拥抱它们、与它们玩耍、观察它们和分析它们。
Dog Toys, 2014
cusp. :
What is the current concern and thinking?
最近每天思考和关心的问题是什么?
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
I have been profoundly disturbed by America's gun violence and police corruption, of course now newly added to the list there is also women’s reproductive rights, and how the whole world seems to be heading towards a more conservative direction.
我对美国的枪支暴力和警察腐败深感不安，当然，现在还有妇女的生殖权利。整个世界似乎正朝着更保守的方向发展。
I Have No Memories of You
cusp. :Can you talk about favorite artists and favorite books?
可以讲讲你喜欢的艺术家和喜欢的读物吗？
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
Photography has a quick turnaround in terms of what is popular. It comes and goes quickly. Andrea Modica is one exception for me. Her work brings out this same tenderness in me everytime I look at them. Nothing has gained nor lost when I look at them today compared to the first time I flipped through her book 15 years ago. I now probably look at paintings more often than photographs. Edouard Vuilliard and Andreas Schulze are some of my favorite painters. For books I will say Fernando Pessoa and Daniil Kharms, I am attracted to humble and sweet souls that suffered anger and despair. I have a wide range of taste for music, including industrial, J-POP, folk, indie… Einstürzende Neubauten, El Perro Del Mar, Juana Molina, Michael Nyman…
在流行度方面，摄影有一个快速的周期。它来得快，去得也快。Andrea Modica 是我认为的一个例外。每次看她的作品，我都能感受到一种同样的温柔。与15年前我第一次翻阅到她的书时相比，今天再看她的作品时，我的感觉没有丝毫的改变，它不增不减。
我现在可能看画比看摄影作品更多。Edouard Vuilliard和Andreas Schulze是我最喜欢的画家之一。文学方面，我喜欢Fernando Pessoa 和 Daniil Kharms的作品，我容易被愤怒又绝望但同时谦逊的灵魂所吸引。在音乐方面，听了很多年的有Einstürzende Neubauten、El Perro Del Mar、Juana Molina、 Michael Nyman......
I Have No Memories of You
cusp. :What do you think is the happiest thing you have ever encountered?
觉得遇到过最开心的事情？
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
There are many. Mostly animals and kids related
有很多。大多与动物和儿童有关
I Have No Memories of You
cusp. : Talk about future plans?
你未来的规划是什么？
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
Live, Laugh, Love. (Just kidding!)
活着，笑，爱。（这只是一个玩笑！）
Armpit City, House Objects
cusp. :
How do you view the relationship between life and work?
如何看待生活和作品之间的关系?
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
Of course each artist’s relationship between life and work is different. I am naturally fascinated by the unhealthy and dysfunctional ones in which the artist suffers in life one way or another to make powerful work. But then it also makes sense to me that a good singer doesn’t have to have the personal experience of going through a terrible break up in order to successfully perform a love song. In my case, I feel like a naive and in-experienced teenage mom trying to bring up a kid on her own. Everything I do is out of my pace and I tumble through the day without any grace. At the end of the night I get a little smile (which could just be reflex) from this kid, and I find pleasure in seeing it. The relationship is as dramatic or even tragic than the ones that I am attracted to, but certainly is rocky in its own way
当然，每个艺术家的生活和创作之间的关系都是不同的。我自然而然地对那些不健康的、不正常的关系、以及从苦难中诞生的作品感到着迷。但后来想想其实不一定非要这样，就像一个好的歌手不一定要经历过可怕的失恋才能成功演绎情歌。就我而言，我觉得自己就像一个天真无邪、缺乏经验的少女妈妈，试图独自抚养一个孩子，我所做的一切都超出了我的节奏！我在一天中跌跌撞撞，没有任何优雅。到了晚上，我从这个孩子那里得到一个小小的微笑(可能只是肌肉的反射性动作)，但我在看到这个微笑时是很高兴的。我的生活和创作之间的关系当然不比我欣赏的那种关系具有戏剧性，甚至是悲剧性，但它有自己的坎坷。
Armpit City, Family Potraits
cusp. : What do you think about the theme of this exhibition? How does it relate to your own work?
这次展览主题的看法？如何和自己的作品联系？
Sophie Tianxin Chen：
I think “the everyday” is always an interesting and timeless topic to explore as the strangest things do happen in real life.
我认为“日常”总是一个有趣和永恒的话题来探索，因为最奇怪的事情确实发生在现实生活中。
Armpit City, House Objects