The film Seven Intellectuals In Bamboo Forest is based on the history of seven talented intellectuals from the ancient Chinese Wei and Jin Dynasties. Ruan Ji, Ji Kang,  Shan Tao, Liu Ling, Ruan Yan, Xiang Xiu and Wang Rong were famous poets and  artists at that time. Open and unruly, they used to gather and drink in the  bamboo forest, singing songs and playing traditional Chinese musical  instruments, in the hope of escaping from earthly life. They pursued  individuality, freedom, and liberty. Their remarkable talent and passion made  them a notable group in Chinese history.

Part 1 is about their trip to the Yellow Mountain. The 7 young people  are greatly touched by the beautiful scenery. All kinds of thoughts about life come to them.
35mm  black and white film transferred to DVD, 29min, 2003-5

Part 2 exposes closed city life in a noisy metropolis, such as Shanghai. The 7 young people live in the city, but seem to have little connection with the city.
35mm  black and white film transferred to DVD, 46 min, 2004

Part 3 these 7 young people try to change their identity and have a different life. They choose to live in China’s Southwestern villages, where they can get closer to nature, and to their own hearts.
35mm  black and white film transferred to DVD, 53 min, 2006

Part 4 is about the idea of living on an island with no one else, avoiding the hustle and bustle of the busy metropolis. In Chinese legend, there is an island of Peach Blossoms - the very ideal place to live, where one’s  thoughts can fly freely.
35mm black and white film transferred to DVD, 70 mins, 2007

Part 5 is about the return to the city and to reality. We live in the city and belong to it. If any problem arises, we are able to solve it.
35mm  black and white film transferred to DVD, 90 mins, 2007

This new work I See a Darkness is based upon the story of two Lucia’s: Santa Lucia and Lucia Joyce, James Joyce’s daughter. Lucia meaning ‘light’ was the name Joyce gave his daughter when she was born in Trieste in Italy in 1907. She was the light of her fathers’ life and it seemed that she was destined to become a great dancer; she loved to dance as much as he loved to sing. Tragically her feelings of being overshadowed and uprooted led to a decline in her mental health.

In the end she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was to live out the remainder of her years isolated in an institution in Northampton, England. Santa Lucia came from Siracuse in Sicily and she has always been described as having beautiful eyes. She was to become the patron saint of eyesight and is usually represented holding her eyes on a platter. Lucia Joyce however had problems with her eyes. She inherited a cast in her left eye, which was something she was self-conscious of throughout her life. Santa Lucia will always represent light however Lucia Joyce’s story is one of a bright light slipping into obscurity and darkness. In my work these two characters merge as one.

The work begins with a call and response duet of the song I See a Darkness by Will Oldham. Two recordings, split across two channels, call out to each other from across the space.

Following this a recording of me picking out the tune of Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a dead Princess) by Ravel on the piano can be heard.Lucia Joyce danced to this tune as a teenager when she was a dancer with Les Six de Rythme et Couleur.

The final piece is a four-speaker installation of my voice singing the Neapolitan barcarolle Santa Lucia. The lyrics “My home is far away/ For you I’m yearning/ Longing to greet the day/ Of my returning” and “I hear you calling me/ your voice enthralling me” allude to feelings of separation and longing. In the recordings the voices are split across different channels; I See a Darkness alternates from speaker to speaker and in Santa Lucia two voices sing simultaneously. This rhymes with Lucia Joyce’s later life when she suffered from schizophrenia and longed to return to her father. After Santa Lucia the recording loops and the audience can hear the song cycle again from a different perspective.

I’m interested in the spatial values of sound and how sound can define architecture. I’m also interested in the emotive and psychological effects of song and how it can be a trigger for memory, heightening ones own sense of self while making you aware of your surroundings.

Susan Philipsz, December 2008