My work began with family oral history and explores the cultural heritage of my hometown, Shanghai, through traditional media, digital media and artificial intelligence. It focuses on a largely forgotten Shanghai folk ritual known as Carrying the Third Lady (formally Welcoming Zigu). This is a commemoration of Zigu, a benevolent yet ill-fated figure from folk legend. During the festival, worshipers welcome Zigu and use the practice of spirit writing to divine matters concerning daily life, such as sericulture. Through layered making and archiving, I reflect on how a sense of authenticity is constructed in the digital age.
I collect both first- and second-hand materials, including my grandfather’s oral history recordings, online blogs, and historical paintings. None of these sources provides a complete record of the ritual. Folklore and ritual are not fixed; they shift through memory, emotion, and changing cultural contexts. Transmission is not preservation but reinterpretation — each generation reshapes what it inherits, and every personal memory becomes part of cultural history (Bell 1992).
When I first heard about the ritual, it felt distant and almost unreal. Through my research, I discovered that the custom has a more specific name dating back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and that literati such as Su Shi wrote about them. When this ritual is placed in its historical context and backed up by extensive documentation, it appears to be more ‘authentic’ and can be regarded as cultural heritage rather than superstition.
I am carrying the ritual forward and creating a narrative form co-authored by humans and non-humans. After encountering my work, viewers may develop their own understandings and imaginings of the ritual. This is how traditions are transmitted. Such transmission is distorted in relation to the ritual’s original form, yet it is authentic.
Reference
Bell, C. (1992) Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
When I first heard about the ritual, it felt distant and almost unreal. Through my research, I discovered that the custom has a more specific name dating back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and that literati such as Su Shi wrote about them. When this ritual is placed in its historical context and backed up by extensive documentation, it appears to be more ‘authentic’ and can be regarded as cultural heritage rather than superstition.
I am carrying the ritual forward and creating a narrative form co-authored by humans and non-humans. After encountering my work, viewers may develop their own understandings and imaginings of the ritual. This is how traditions are transmitted. Such transmission is distorted in relation to the ritual’s original form, yet it is authentic.
Reference
Bell, C. (1992) Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.