RUIJI HAN
AUDIO RECORDING OF TEXT
BIOGRAPHY
Ruiji Han (b.1992, China)
Lives and works in London
Education;
MA Contemporary Art Practice// Royal College of Art 2018-2020
BA Fine Art // Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design 2014-2017
When darkness falls, it is either pale or weak. Either silence or even become an
accomplice. Will it change in the future? Change and offer hope. we are connected
with nature by blood ties, and we cannot live outside nature.
Their research and practice mainly focus on the relation between Shamanism and
anthropocentrism, as one of the primitive methodologies and a sort of religious
phenomenon, has been offering a different outlook to the world. Shamans have
observed and categorised nature into two realms, visible (tangible) and invisible
(intangible), believing in, that all subjects in the universe have their creatures, and
reflected them into their rhythm of daily life. This concept engages with aspects of
extending to the realms of moving image, sound and installation. Often uses raw
materials and inorganic materials to create installations and sculptural objects. their
research and practice explore a relationship with the natural world has created a
deeper reflection.
They have been thinking about our relationship with our environment, animals and
animal production for profit, for food, production and for manufacturing. Their
concerns are manifold: our increased separation from food production, our
environment, waste production, our treatment of animals and our relationship with
the Earth. We are facing an unforeseen paradox in the human-nature relationship in
the modern day due to human supremacy and intellect. Such a human condition
makes one wonder, how much an individual is aware of their morality and capacity
to act accordingly. To act accordingly towards all other life, to realise and remember.
SABRE DOG
Stainless steel, aluminium, Soil, Earth, Jesmonite Resin, Epoxy, wood, Ceramic
"Then
the sun grew cold
and the blessing ceased upon lands Across the plains the grass turned and the fish dried up
in the sea and thenceforth the earth
did not accept it's dead."
-Forogh Farokhzad
Sabre Dog draws inspiration from poet Forogh Farokhzad's poems, in which we feel lost in
the present and foreseeable future ecology. The soil, representing return and renewal, is
scorched, and ants appear as a metaphor. Cold metal spikes. On the other hand, the giant
jaws of the ants represent a primitive force. The series is created with the shamanism of
North Asia as the main object of study. The phenomenon of shamanism is unfathomable
and widespread. It is something close to a universal human phenomenon. Some form of the
shamanic system has always existed in most contemporary non-Western cultures. Primitive
beliefs have often been referred to as being concerned with a highly metaphysical sense of
the chaos of soul consciousness and the universe's workings. The idea of shamanism
conveys the notion of a less self-centred, more community-based art as a healing or
transformative force.
Ants
Ants deities are connected with the earth, birth, the land and hunting.
They are also associated with the spirits of place. The ruler of the earth and of the world,
the taiga, game and hunting. Ants are usually the messenger of the earth spirit to deliver
their language to the shaman. They open to us a passage from that world to this one.
Sangia mama(Earth Spirit), Sangia mama!
Hear our prayer,
Accept our offering with the blood of our animal!
For the animal which you sent us,
We bring you its head.
We all kneel
And humbly bow to you, Sangia mama!
In another world
They made the coffin out of planks, and all the villages came, and she poured milk to please
ants on it to send off with their last wishes. The shaman accompanied his soul to the other
world. She described descending through a hole (Ants Nest)in the earth. People were
holding her by a strong rope around her waist. Along, they went through the darkness till it
got light. The seasons there was the opposite of what they are here. Then a man came out
to meet and welcome the dead. It was someone from the dead man's clan, one of the
ancestors. People at the ceremony ask questions to determine exactly who it is. Then the
shaman leaves him there and returns------the people were pulling on the rope. She rests,
and the conversation returns to normal.
We are facing various difficulties. People always fall into complete despair and extreme fear
at the beginning. What followed was silence. The number of deceased is rising rapidly every
day. No matter how magnificent the rhetoric, passion, or sincerity. Neither despair nor fear
can be reduced. Poetry itself is not cruel. It is the soul who writes those poems to
experience the ordeal they have experienced. To suffering, to let the language be baptised.
Shamanism, as one of the primitive methodologies and a sort of religious phenomenon, has
offered a different outlook on the world. Shamans, since ancient times, have observed and
categorised nature into two realms, visible (tangible) and invisible (intangible), believing that
all subjects in the universe have their creatures and reflect them into their rhythm of daily
life. Their manner results from the connections and interrelations between humans and
nature. In this installation, the expression of the subconscious mind is a way for me to
observe differently.
