Saudade 薩烏達德
Saudade 2021
Single Channel Video , 2.1 Stereo Installation
Dimension Variable
被聲音錄下的記憶，或許比看見的影像更真實也虛幻。那一年於法國西班牙邊界的波港（Portbou）與班雅明紀念地的偶遇，身體慢慢往前行走至盡頭，我卻不轉身，再緩緩倒退，以為哼唱的聲音測量的是空間，後來卻發現繪測的原來是自己的生命，光影折射出童年、此刻與老年的身影，時空的廣闊與渺小的自己。第一次體會到葡萄牙語Saudade的無法被翻譯，卻可透過音符召喚出身體裡趨近狂喜卻未滿、觸及憂傷又未達，將生命的光景匯聚於一瞬間，難以言喻的那些。
生命彷彿是與自己相遇，然後再慢慢地跟自己告別。
Memory recorded by sound, perhaps, is more realistic, yet more surreal, than images seen. That year, I had a chance encounter with Walter Benjamin Memorial in Portbou on the border of France and Spain. My body slowly walked forward till the end of the road, but I did not turn around; I slowly walked backward, thinking that the sound of me humming and singing was measuring time; in the end, I realized that it was really measuring my life. Light and shadow reflect our images in childhood, this moment, and later years, as well as the vastness of spacetime and insignificance of ourselves. For the first time, I realized the untranslatability of the Portuguese word, “Saudade,” yet it can summon through music notes those indescribable things in our body that are almost but not yet overjoy or sorrow, condensing the sceneries in life into one instant.
Life seems to be meeting itself, and then slowly bidding farewell to itself.