RETURN SOUTH
Video
5’42’03
2025
“Return south” is a meditative act of collective reclamation. In this performance video, the artist and a partner meticulously sheath a decommissioned J-5 fighter jet, once a tool of aerial combat in layers of fragile rice paper. Over time, the jet’s corroded metal body, marked by histories of conflict and obsolescence, dissolves into a spectral white monument.
The work confronts the paradoxical fate of retired war machines across China: displayed in public parks as "educational" playground objects, they mask the violence of their origins under the guise of nostalgic patriotism. By enveloping the jet in rice pape, a material synonymous with cultural preservation and impermanence, the artists perform a ritual of erasure and rebirth. The resulting form evokes a ghostly fossil, a shrouded relic, or an unpainted terracotta warrior, blurring lines between militaristic display and sacred burial.