About This Project

Yuehan Hao

Project title: Lies in stopping Project statement: Within the imagery of “cessation”, one can find a judgmental consciousness of death in the closed loop of overlapping current images. The immediate experience brought by vision might only exist momentarily, but when contextualized within the creative process, it goes beyond merely exploring the essence of the body as the primary medium of visual expression, delving into the intrinsic significance of familial connections before and after life ceases. What’s paramount is establishing a public discourse on the elusive topic of death through visual creation. Specifically, how to reflect on the inherent nature of imagery to address the fractured family relationships exposed in society after the loss of a loved one, finding an ascending exit for establishing intimate member connections in the future — rooted in cessation but never solely limited to it. Photographic works use the clock as a metaphor and link, prompting contemplation on the notion that life resides in cessation. By intertwining death, familial memories, and the intrinsic connections of imagery, the comprehensive expression of the created image embodies the intricate real-world relationship between death and family memories, forming an intrinsic closed-loop through visual means. This completes the refinement process from factual logic to artistic conceptualization. It also allows the photographer’s personal memories of grief to dissolve through the creative process, undergoing a kind of bilateral sublimation. That is, the photographic work originates from individual free consciousness, breaking the barriers between the self and the outside world on the topic of death through documentary and conceptual experimental imagery. It not only practices discussing how the personal attributes of individual perceptions of death can be made public through photography but also explores new ways to sort out and reconstruct family relationships through visual creation after the cessation of the photographer’s mother’s life. Moreover, it highlights the therapeutic function of related visual media in healing the emotional and psychological trauma brought about by death.