“Can we live here forever?” “我们可以一直活在这里吗?”, 2023

72” x 2” x 78”
Hand-painted bamboo curtain, wire, aluminum alloy, magnets

Beaded bamboo curtains became popular with décor trends that incorporate symbols of zen philosophy and the fantasia of trans-Pacific cultures emerged throughout the 20th century. Popular imagery on curtains include ying-yang symbols, Buddhas, bamboo, tropical trees, waterfalls, islands, and beaches. Orientalist motifs and lands were often conjured as a form of escapism and fantasy just as these curtains give the illusion that one can walk through to another world.  

In this piece, Zhang created a bamboo curtain with imagery loosely based on a photograph she took during a childhood trip to Mount Lu (庐山). Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, Mount Lu is a significant place for temples associated with Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism; sites of inspiration for generations of influential poets, artists and politicians; and a popular tourist attraction for both domestic and international visitors. It is here that Zhang recalls feeling most connected to the motherland as a land, and a humbling experience of the epic of nature as a manifestation of the sublime. During her trip, she asked her family if they could stay there forever, awkwardly expressed from an English thought translated to Chinese as 我们可以一直活在这里吗? (Can we survive here forever?). At the time of this trip, Zhang had already immigrated to the US. The naïve titular phrase implied an inevitable end to their travels, her then presence as a guest in a place that she could not accurately call home, and the rosy lens of tourism that her experience was seen through.

Negative space fills the gaps between the painted beads as they sway in the air, portraying an illusive portal to a Mount Lu that exists somewhere between a memory and a desire, where nostalgia mingles with amnesia.

Installation photos by Darren Rigo.

This project was made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.