Every Grain Comes After Hard Toil
粒粒皆辛苦
Central Park Series
Hand make wooden cratebox with backlit vinyl print light box, tennis balls 93.5×73.5×5.5 inch (235x187x14cm)
2022-2023

Every Grain Comes After Hard Toil
粒粒皆辛苦
Central Park Series
Inkjet print
2022
56×70 inch (142x178cm), edition of 3 (+2AP)
40×50 inch (100x127cm), edition of 9

For the Chinese, tennis is considered a sport for the elite or the affluent. My mother never dared to dream of playing tennis in her entire life, but this “dream” was unexpectedly realized after immigrating to Canada. Anyone who has had a slight encounter with tennis knows that without proper coaching, it is easy to hit the ball out of bounds. Many people may not care about “flyaway” balls. However, for the older generation who experienced poverty and even hunger in their youth, frugality is seen as a survival skill. It is a lifestyle habit that shapes their life trajectory. This habit does not change with the improvement of living conditions. Saving grain to prevent famine is a cultural practice for them.

The title of the work is taken from the last line of a famous ancient poem, Plowing the Fields, by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shen, which is a classic verse emphasizing the traditional Chinese family value of not wasting food when educating children. Meanwhile, the gesture of the woman in the picture is inspired by the 19th-century French realist painter Millet’s The Gleaners, implying the appropriated cultural relevance.

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