4C Gallery 现场照片

在“异乡”的地理语境之中，“家”成为了一种符号，它隐喻一切遥远而模糊的且终将消逝的光点。然而当我们找寻、渴求时，它又变成具象的记忆：幼年参加选美比赛时穿的裙子，父亲车行柴油的气味，还有自家餐馆日复一日亮起的霓虹招牌。于是归属感变成了一种敏锐的感知，它联结起内心和世界，召唤着每一个在归乡途中的人。在作品《生活在那些没有唐人街的地方》中，唐子儒运用感性的视角和有温度的镜头记录了莫、秋美、迈克、贝琪、李和伊丽莎白这六个移民家庭的生活状态，探索了移民们在异乡寻找归属感的过程。唐子儒以“亚裔”、“移民”与“归属感”为主题的个展“异乡归途”已在4C画廊展出。在此次个展中，唐子儒将邀请观众进入他的内心世界，了解他对于世界的独特理解和敏锐感知。

In the geographical context of the ‘foreign land’, ‘home’ becomes a symbol, representing all distant, vague, and eventually fading points of light. Yet, when we search for and yearn for it, it transforms into tangible memories: the dress we wore during a childhood beauty pageant, the smell of diesel from our father’s workshop, and the neon sign that lit up our family restaurant day after day. Thus, the sense of belonging becomes a keen perception, connecting the inner self with the world, summoning everyone on their journey back home. In Living in Places Without China Towns, Ziru Tang uses a sensitive perspective and warm imagery to document the lives of six immigrant families: Mo, Qiumei, Mike, Becky, Li, and Elizabeth. He explores the process of immigrants seeking a sense of belonging in a foreign land. Tang's solo exhibition, titled ‘Homeward Journey’ focusing on the themes of ‘Asian identity’ ‘immigration’ and ‘belonging’ was displayed at the 4C Gallery. In this exhibition, Ziru Tang invites the audience to enter his inner world and understand his unique interpretation and keen perception of the world.

异乡归途系列，摄影装置作品

【据美国移民政策研究所（MPI）数据显示，截至2021年，美国的移民总数达到了4350万。尽管近两年中美关系的紧张局势使得来自中国的移民数量有所下降，但他们仍然是美国移民中的第三大来源群体（仅次于墨西哥和印度）。截至 2021 年，来自中国的移民数量占美国 4530 万移民的5%。其中大部分在美国的华裔移民是合法居民，但根据MPI的估计，截至2019年，约有39万人无合法身份，占1100万非法移民总数的4%。尽管美国国土辽阔，但中国移民大多都居住在加利福尼亚州和纽约州。】

[According to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), The total number of immigrants in the United States reaches 43.5 million as of 2021, Although tensions in U.S. vs China relations have caused a decline in the number of immigrants from China over the past two years, they still remain the third largest source group of immigrants to the U.S. (after Mexico and India). With immigrants from China accounting for 5% of the 45.3 million immigrants in the U.S. as of 2021. In addition, the majority of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. are legal residents, but according to MPI estimates, as of 2019, about 390,000 people, or 4 percent of the 11 million total illegal immigrants, is without legal status. Besides, even though the United States is a vast country, the majority of Chinese immigrants reside in California and New York].

异乡归途系列，影像装置作品

19世纪40年代，美国西部涌起了一场持续了近十年的淘金热潮，人们纷纷从澳洲、俄罗斯、南非和亚洲等地赶来，期待能在金色加州分一杯羹。这场淘金热引发了人口、物质与金融流动的浪潮，带动了美国经济的急速发展。自此之后，美国成为了全世界“淘金者”的梦幻天堂。之后的几十年，它不断吸引着人们远离家乡，千里迢迢来到这里寻找自己的新生活。

In the 1840s, the American West was the scene of a gold rush that lasted nearly a decade, with people arriving from Australia, Russia, South Africa, and Asia in anticipation of getting a piece of the Golden State. The gold rush triggered a wave of human, material and financial mobility that fuelled the rapid growth of the American economy. Since then, the United States has become a dream destination for gold seekers from all over the world, and in the decades that followed, it continued to attract people from far and wide to find their new lives here.

《生活在那些没有唐人街的地方》 视频静帧

而背井离乡从来都不是一个轻易的决定。从贫穷的家乡偷渡来到纽约后，20岁的秋美对于美国的想象被脏乱的后厨和无尽的忙碌打碎。在纽约唐人街的餐馆工作了十年后，秋美终于还清了偷渡的债务，和丈夫一起搬到了阿拉巴马州。秋美和丈夫在那里开了一家餐馆，他们全年营业364天，只在独立日那一天休息。为了节约成本，秋美的孩子们在每天放学后都会来餐馆帮忙，他们在餐馆里学习课业、练习钢琴和橄榄球。餐馆不仅是夫妻俩工作的场域，它还变成了一个类似于家的空间，记录了家庭生活中苦涩温馨的时刻和孩子们成长的痕迹。物理意义上的那个故乡破败、贫穷又落后，让人只想逃得越远越好。阿拉巴马没有唐人街，但这对于秋美来说或许已经不再重要，因为她早已将这里视为耕耘生活的新大陆。

And leaving home is never an easy decision. After being smuggled into New York City from her impoverished hometown, 20-year-old Qiumei's vision of America was shattered by the dirty backrooms and endless hustle and bustle of the kitchen. After ten years of working in restaurants in New York's Chinatown, Qiumei finally paid off her stowaway debt and moved with her husband to Alabama, where they opened a restaurant that operates 364 days a year, with only one day off, Independence Day. To save money, Qiumei's children help out at the restaurant every day after school, where they study for schoolwork and practice piano and football. The restaurant is not only a venue for the couple's work; it has also become a home-like space that documents the bittersweet moments of family life and the children's growth. The physical sense of her hometown is so crumbling, poor and backward that you just want to run as far away as possible; there is no Chinatown in Alabama, but that may no longer matter to Qiumei, who has long since come to see it as a new continent to plough her way through life.

《生活在那些没有唐人街的地方》 视频静帧

唐子儒在他的视觉研究项目《生活在那些没有唐人街的地方》中，用沉静中立的镜头语言展现了他对于秋美一家移民状态的敏锐捕捉，其中既是叙事的、诗性的、也包含了中立而不乏感性的注视。随意的日常和自然的肖像含蓄地展现出移民家庭的生活状态和他们的精神世界，同时也揭示了他们对于经营生活的用心与艰辛。

In Ziru Tang’s visual research project Living in places without Chinatown, he uses a quiet and neutral camera language to show his keen capture of the immigrant status of the Qiumei family. Tang's work is narrative, poetic, neutral and not lacking in sensual gaze. The casual everyday and natural portraits implicitly show the living conditions of the immigrant family and their spiritual world, while also revealing their dedication and hard work in running their lives.

《生活在那些没有唐人街的地方》 视频静帧

唐子儒的作品透露出一种内敛而感性的气质，他并不是以一种旁观者的角度来“观察”，而是真正参与进拍摄对象的生活，通过温和的同理心以及带着尊重的理解来“探索”对于“找寻”和“故乡”的定义。他运用隐喻和符号搭建起了一座尝试沟通的桥梁，引导观众走进移民家庭的生活中，创造了一种产生共情的可能性。在“秋美一家”系列中，最让人印象深刻的是那张秋美撑开窗帘看向窗外的照片，窗外的景象透过玻璃的反光映在秋美的脸上，隐喻了秋美对于外部环境接受和融入的心理状态，她的眼光坚定而平静，双手展开似怀抱的姿势展现出她对于未来生活的期待。

Tang’s works reveal an introverted and sensual temperament. He does not ‘observe’ from an onlooker's point of view, but truly participates in the lives of his subjects, ‘exploring’ their lives. Through gentle empathy and respectful understanding, he ‘explores’ the definitions of ‘search’ and ‘hometown’. He uses metaphors and symbols to build a bridge of attempted communication, guiding the viewer into the lives of immigrant families and creating the possibility of empathy. the most impressive photo in the series of Qiumei’s family is the photo of Qiumei looking out of the window with the curtains open, with the scene outside reflecting on his face, a metaphor for her psychological state of acceptance and integration into the external environment. Her gaze is firm and calm, and her arms are spread out like an embrace, which shows her expectation of the future.

《生活在那些没有唐人街的地方》 视频静帧

据美国人口普查局数据显示，截至2022年，阿拉巴马州人口总计约507万人，其中白人占比68.9%、黑人或非洲裔26.8%、亚裔仅占1.6%。这意味着阿拉巴马州没有基础和条件来建立大型的华人社群，导致了亚裔在异乡的生存处境更加离散和孤立。由于资本的快速流动，世界范围内的大城市几乎都具备了种族多元化的特征，因种族主义而起的冲突也频频发生。新冠疫情之后，特朗普政府出台的一系列移民政策反映出美国政府的态度，加剧了异乡人在美国的生存困境。在职场中，华裔往往会遭遇刻板印象带来的歧视，这进一步加固了他们的职场玻璃天花板，让许多有才能的华人晋升无路。

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2022, the population of Alabama totals about 5.07 million people, of which 68.9% are white, 26.8% are black or African American, and only 1.6% are Asian, which means that there is no basis or conditions for establishing a large Chinese community in Alabama, leading to a more discrete and isolated existence for Asians in a foreign land. As a result of the rapid flow of capital, almost all major cities around the world are characterized by racial diversity, and conflicts over racism occur frequently; after the pandemic, the Trump administration introduced a series of immigration policies reflecting the strong anti-Chinese sentiments of the US government, which further marginalized and made transparent the Chinese people and exacerbated their existential predicament in the US. In the workplace, ethnic Chinese often encounter discrimination brought about by stereotypes, which further strengthens their glass ceiling in the workplace, leaving many talented Chinese with no way to advance; in addition, the class solidification of the capitalist society further ‘purifies’ the white people’s control over political power, cutting down on the participation rights of ethnic Chinese.

《生活在那些没有唐人街的地方》 视频静帧

另外，资本主义社会的阶层固化则进一步“提纯”了白人对于政治权力的掌控，削减了华裔的参政权。同时，“异乡”的地理语境又使得身份认同困难重重。生活在非母语的语言环境和截然不同的文化背景下，就如同吃夹生的米，不至于味同嚼蜡但也绝对称不上符合喜好的口味。也像秋美那家不算正宗的日料馆，它是文化杂糅但并没有融合良好的产物，只有通过迎合当地消费者对于食物的偏好才得以生存下去。餐馆日复一日亮起的霓虹招牌就像某种隐喻：光点般的梦只有在黑夜中才会显得异常温暖和明亮，但它又是如此飘渺和虚幻，仿佛让人难以靠近。

At the same time, the geographical context of the ‘foreign land’ makes identity difficult. Living in a non-native language environment and in a very different cultural context is like eating raw rice, which is not so bad as to be chewy, but is definitely not to one’s liking; it is also like Qiumei’s not-so-authentic Japanese restaurant, it is the product of a cultural mishmash that does not blend well, and survives only by catering to the food preferences of local consumers. The neon signs that light up day after day are like a metaphor: a point of light, a dream that is only warm and bright in the dark, but so ethereal and illusory that it is hard to get close to.

异乡归途系列，摄影作品

美国的版图从西到东，从金色加州到繁华纽约，这片土地承载着太多移民的美国梦，他们离开地理意义上的故乡，渴望在异乡建立起身份认同、找到属于自己的位置。地理意义上的故乡遥不可及，他们对于家和故乡的定义或许也早已经脱离了地理方位的限制，变成了一种无形的精神感知。连结起人们最脆弱的感性和想象，感召每一个孤独而忧虑的灵魂，接纳每一次撤退或归来。移民们的故事总是有关失去行踪和再次定位，“离散”始终是他们寻乡之旅的关键词，就像《出埃及记》中摩西带领以色列人逃出埃及的寓言所启示的那样：每一个勇敢的人都会受到褒奖，所以无论路途多么遥远，我们最终都会抵达。

The map of the United States from west to east, from golden California to prosperous New York, this piece of land carries the American dream of too many Chinese immigrants, who have left their geographic hometowns, longing to establish their identities and find their own places in a foreign land; their geographic hometowns are beyond their reach, and the immigrants’ definitions of their homes and hometowns have long since broken away from the limitations of geographic location, turning them into a kind of intangible spiritual perception. It connects people’s most fragile sensibility and imagination, and calls every lonely and worried soul to accept every retreat or return; the stories of migrants are always about losing their whereabouts and re-locating, and ‘separation’ is always the keyword of their journey to find their homeland, but just as the parable of Moses leading the Israelites to escape from Egypt revealed: every brave man is rewarded, so no matter how far the journey may be, we will arrive in the end.

Reference

数据来源：美国移民数据局、美国人口普查局

Source: U.S. Immigration Data Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau.

4C Gallery

文/沈葛予婧