cusp.talk : William Zou
Installation view of Papaya, from series soliloquy, 2022
cusp. :
Please 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。
William Zou:
Hello, I'm William and currently live in London. I’m a Scorpio and... my MBTI personallity is INFJ, haha.
I moved to London in 2016 and have been here ever since. I have been in the UK for a lot longer than I thought. Before moving to London, I’ve also lived in Canada, Switzerland and Hungary for a long time. My experience of growing up has been very unsettling, so I had to learn to adapt and blend into to new environments quicky, which i believe has forged my relatively independent personality and conduct. These wandering, diasporic experiences later naturally became part of the core of my own creation.
I have been interested in art since I was a child. Science is really my nightmare, and I rarely pass mathematics and physics, so when I was a kid, I was always hinting and suggesting to myself psycholigically that I should be engaged in literature and art in the future. But in the real sense, it is when I entered RCA at 2019, I truly engaged and embarked on art as a practice and profession.
Hello，我是威廉，目前居住在伦敦。天蝎座、INFJ 。哈哈哈
我在2016年搬来伦敦然后就一直待到了现在。在英国的时间比我想象的久了很多，从一开始不太喜欢到现在逐渐对这个地方开始有依恋还觉得挺感慨的。来伦敦之前在加拿大、瑞士和匈牙利也生活了很久。小的时候非常折腾，必须要逼迫自己不断适应新环境，所以自己的性格和为人处事从小就比较独立。这些四处漂泊的经历在后来很自然成为了自己创做的部分核心。
对艺术感兴趣是从小就如此。主要是理科真的是我的噩梦，数学物理什么的真的鲜少及格，所以小时候就心理暗示自己将来应该是要从事文艺类工作的，还莫名颇有点自豪的意味。 真正意义上从事艺术创作应该是在2019年，入学RCA的时候。
Narcissus, from series soliloquy, 2022cusp. :
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：）
William Zou:
Intuitive, hybrid and coherent. Pretty much like my personality I would say. My friends always think of me as this tender and strong person. Humorous and emotional, self-aware and narcissistic, many seemingly contradictory personalities can be found on me. I also have different interests in many people and things, and I always devote a decent amount of time to learn. I might not be very sophisticated in each of them but I always know a thing or two. I choose photography as my main creative medium, firstly because I have always liked photography, and secondly because I understand and like the "limitation" of photography. I think this kind of limitation is a kind of freedom in essence. To me, the photographer is not obliged to construct a narrative for whom (although it can). I like the alienation and closeness, fragmentation and randomness of photography, I was never into the state of completeness. Such an understanding of photography was further reinforced after my first series. Whether it is the visual characteristics or the topic itself, in the first series I feel that photography is the most suitable way to express it, because the medium itself also largely responds to my fragmented cognition of identity experience.
直觉的，杂糅又连贯的。可能作品也很贴近周围人对我的评价一样。朋友们觉得我很柔和、幽默、伤感又轻快、有时候自卑又自恋。好像很多很对立的性格在我身上倒没有很矛盾。我对很多人事物也保有很多兴趣，不太会三分钟热度，一定会投入时间去关注学习，不一定都很精进但都略知一二。选择摄影为自己最主要的创作媒介首先是因为自己一直都喜欢摄影，其次是我很理解也喜欢摄影的“局限性”，我觉得这种局限究其本质这反而是一种自由。其实摄影师没有义务去为谁构建一个叙事（尽管摄影可以做到）。我喜欢摄影这种疏离又紧密、零碎又随机的特性、不喜欢太完整的状态。不过第二点应该算是在差不多完成第一个系列后才得到的感悟。无论是视觉特性还是关注的议题本身，在第一个系列里我都觉得使用摄影去表现再合适不过，因为媒介本身也很大程度响应了我对身份体验的碎片化的认知。
biu/piu, from series soliloquy, 2022
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？
William Zou:
Because I majored in film studies in my undergraduate, I think my visual language and creative habits may be subtly influenced by a lot of film studies and literature. Music as well. Sometimes listening to songs will lead to a lot of reverie, just a line of lyrics many times. I really like the films of Yasujiro Ozu, Juzo Itami, Edward Yang, and Jules Dassin, as well as a lot of Dogme 95 and French New Wave films. In terms of literature, I really like the novels and poems of Bai Xianyong, Vladimir Nabakov, Viriginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Sylvia Plath and Ocean Vuong.
因为本科修的是电影学，所以可能自己的视觉语言和创作习惯潜移默化受到很多电影学和文学的影响。音乐也会有一些，有时候听歌会因为一句歌词遐想出很多东西。我很喜欢小津安二郎、伊丹十三、杨德昌、 和Jules Dassin的电影，还有很多Dogme 95和法式新浪潮的电影作品。文学方面嘛很喜欢白先勇，Vladimir Nabakov, Viriginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Sylvia Plath 和Ocean Vuong 的小说和诗歌。
Cowboy, from series soliloquy, 2022
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?
William Zou:
soliloquy the my first creative project in the true sense. soliloquy is a literary device often used in playwriting, it is a monologue spoken addressed to the protagonist him/herself, and that is simply why i’ve chosen to title this project as soliloquy. It departs from my personal experience and family history, so like the name of this project itself, I have never considered public receptions. In the process of creating, I gradually found that what I was trying to do was to interweave the past and the present, and to create a new spatial-temporall relationship of the photographic language to remap myidentity experience of queer and diaspora. The concept of "family" under Confucian culture is also the core backdrop of this project as it also tries to untangle why so many try so relentlesslly to fit into the paradigm of “perfect family”. So whether it is a reprinted archive photo, a performed self-portrait or a stylized still life, for me, each photograph embodies a piece of the puzzle, a footnote, a clue that is not necessarily reliable, but through these pieces, I think It may be possible for me to see more clearly which identities are favored, and which are disrupted or dissipated.
soliloquy 是入学 RCA，也是自己真正意义上第一个创作项目。soliloquy 意为无需被他者聆听的独白。这个项目是很个人的，他纯粹地从个体经历与家族史出发，所以如这个项目的名字本身一样，我没有想过它的受众会在哪。在之后创作的进程里，慢慢发现自己在不断尝试的是去交织过往与当下，在图像语言里为自己创造一个新的时空关系去重新映射酷儿及离散者的身份体验。而儒家文化下的“家庭”观念也是这个项目很核心的背景板，所有的思考都紧密联系并去反思这种所谓的“模范家庭”。因此无论是在暗房重新放映的档案、戏剧性的自拍还是风格化的静物，对我而言，每一个照片都像一块拼图、一个脚注、一条不一定可靠的线索，而通过这些碎片，我想我也许能更明确地看到哪些身份所被青睐、哪些又被扰乱或消散。
Three Brothers, from series soliloquy, 2022
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?
William Zou:
I returned to the state of living alone at the beginning of this year. I have always loved a solitude life more or less. For me personally, the time for independent thinking is so important, necessary, and precious. Because one is always surrounded by different opinions nowadays, and that is not necessarily helpfull all the time. So for me, most of my inspiration comes when I ‘m by myself, as I also have more time to filter and evaluate my thoughts. I shoot photos very spontaneously, sometimes it’s about fulfilling ideas conceived in my head, sometimes it’s just a random snapshot, but i work in between my living, and I don’t read a book or watch a movie just to look for inspiration or ideas, it is too self-conscious. I dont like to do things for the sake of doing it.
今年年初开始重新回到独居的状态。还是很喜欢一个人生活。对我个人而言，独立思考的时间太重要、太必要、也太宝贵了。因为有时候太多声音是很嘈杂的。所以对我自己而言大部分灵感都是在自己一个人生活的时候涌入的，同时也会有更多时间让自己去过滤沉淀一些思绪想法。会有明确知道某张图像会成为作品而下意识拍摄的动作，也会有很大一部分是纯粹随机而当下的。基本上创作都游走在我自己的生活里，我不会因为想要刻意找灵感或想法去特地读一本书或看部电影。感觉那样太下意识了，有种为了找而去找的感觉。这方面感觉可以比较傲气地说“我不找灵感，等着灵感自己找上门来。”
iPhone snapshot, 2022
cusp. :
What are your daily hobbies?
你每天的习惯是什么？
William Zou:
Cooking, cleaning, yoga, roaming around the city, riding bicycles and chatting with friends.
做饭、打扫、瑜伽、城里闲逛、骑自行车、和朋友聊天。
iPhone snapshot, 2022
cusp. :
What is the current concern and thinking?
最近每天思考和关心的问题是什么?
William Zou:
What is home and how to live more eco-friendly.
何以为家&怎么生活的更环保。
Untitled (Dad), from series soliloquy, 2022
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？
William Zou:
I am really fond of Isiuchi Miyako, and the works of Taryn Simon, Danh Vo, Kiki Smith, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Anne Imholf。
Apart from books, I also like magazines such as Vestoj, Allla Carta, Family Portrait etc.
Glass Jar, from series soliloquy, 2022
cusp. :
What do you think is the happiest thing you have ever encountered?
觉得遇到过最开心的事情？
William Zou:
Being truly loved by those around me. Fix what is broken myself.
真心被身边的人爱戴着。自己修好坏掉的东西。
Three Horses of Triumph, from series soliloquy, 2022
cusp. :
Talk about future plans?
你未来的规划是什么？
William Zou:
Start to make a living while still working on my own art works. And of course! continue running cusp. with my friends!
继续创作的同时开始谋生….&和大家一起经营好cusp. !
iPhone snapshot, 2022
cusp. :
What do you think about the theme of this exhibition?
这次展览主题的看法？
William Zou:
It is a very special experience for me as I am also responsible for parts of the curatoiral work in this exhibition. I am so grateful and thrilled to be part of it as many from the lineup are people who I truly admire and love, and they can’t be any nicer really! Thank you to our kinship to have brought us together in this exhibition, and I’m also very glad that “Some Kinds of Queery” opened this month because of the current happenings, social contexts, etc, I truly wish this exhibition will offer people some new perspectives and evoke some new questions or thoughts. Radicially or gently, I think it is time for us to create some new “spectacles” to query or continue questioning the present.
因为这次展览也和cusp.的大家一起负责一部分策展工作所以还是挺特别的体验。可能因为着手的主题也有很大的相似性，所以每一位艺术家都很亲切，然后其中好几位也是我个人很喜欢欣赏的艺术家，每一位都给了我们很大的支持，真的真的很感谢他们! 最后就是感到很开心在这个节点这次展览开幕了。时下的一些事件也好、舆论或环境也好，我希望这个展览真的能给大家带去一些新的思考和看事物的角度。激进或温柔，我觉得我们都要去制造一些新“奇观”了。
Thank you William Zou ©️William Zou