I'm
Increasingly
Pessoptimistic

So Long, and Thanks for All the Bubble Warps

During the second wave of the pandemic in China, communities were under lockdown. The normalcy of daily life could only be sustained by deliveries. As a consequence, the corners of my room had been taken over by many well-preserved reusable plastic bubble wraps in a way that could not be ignored by me anymore. These plastic bubble wraps could be quite beautiful during the day under sunlight. In the morning during breakfast, I, in the half-awake state, would always stare at “her” (the bubble wraps) unconsciously. Sometimes I even started to fantasize about the ups and downs of “her life” as well as the complicated relationships “she” would have with other packaging materials.

The inside of 'her' was soft, vulnerable yet hard to break. At the same time, these features of 'her' were also the weapons, 'she' used to protect others when 'she' was in the outside world. At the moment she met the product, she needed to protect, she realized that she had some kind of 'responsibilities' and that she also needed to make 'some kind of sacrifice'. After being packed into a cardboard box, 'she' would also establish 'trust' with all the other layers of the packaging. Her role during the process bore a great resemblance to characters coming from the creations of John le Carré - an author of espionage novels. To continue their journey, she, the product she protected and other packaging would then experience the bumpiness of roads during the transportation process. That was when they would finish their two sets of changes of space and identities. It was not until the moment when the package was signed and opened that 'she' would finally disarm herself. At that point, 'she' would not be as well-pumped as she used to be before the transportation. The vulnerable side of her would then be displayed to the cruel and pitiless world. This train of thoughts of mine about wrapping bubbles, at that point, reminded me of the experience of my mother, who died three years ago of nephrosis. This is why I start working on a project about 'wrapping bubbles'.  Then photographed the following images on my very own “Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day”(January 25, 2021).