李牧 Li mu
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李牧 Li mu
GB2312limuff@hotmail.comhttp://www.iamlimu.org/blogview.asp?logID=395<![CDATA[仇庄日志 Qiuzhuang Log 纪录片 documentary 2015]]>AdminQiuzhuang Project2024-04-19 12:47 AM=538) {this.width=538;}" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='hand';" alt='按此在新窗口打开图片' onclick="window.open(this.src);">
The Blue Books is the second project in which artist Li Mu using book as a medium to communicate with people. This time his readers will be teenagers serving sentence in Shanghai Juvenile Reformatory. This is a special group of people who eagerly want to earn trust and love from the outside world, and to communicate with and learn about the outside world.
Art books usually feature images, transcending the constraints of different languages, education backgrounds and ages. By reading the books, readers can not only learn more about art, but also have a deeper understanding of freedom, goodness and creativity.
If you want to have a look at the book, just come and borrow it. The practice is based upon mutual trust and no extra procedures are required. Wherever the book goes, there is trust and love.
Blue is the color of sky and ocean. It represents freedom, purity and peace. The artist entitles the project Blue Books in the hope that each participant will enjoy a sense of freedom, purity and peace while reading the books.
（The text from Biljana Ciric's "Back to the Basics: Li Mu’s Perception of Human Relations and Social Interactions "）
Whether it is something that can be called works is not important, I’d rather say this is something that I’d like to do well.
Things will not always go smoothly. Yesterday, I went to the spot to see how everything is going, H (a stuff member) had only bought a bookshelf and two flowerpots of ugly plants. The team that supports the project finally agreed to buy another two bookshelves and some more plants after my persistent requirement. I can tolerant everything else but for the things that will affect the spirit of my work, that is the principle that I’ll hold on to. This morning L regretfully told me that he had forgot to bring in the plant that he bought the previous day.
A large number of books were extracted by the dean of the House of Correction and they were put in his office, because those that contain naked human body are not allowed to appear on the bookshelf. After discussion we decided to remove the pages from the books that are not allowed to appear, and then insert the rest of the book into the collection. When the activity was about to begin Rodin’s picture album was “borrowed” away by the Chief of Section, for the cover of the book prints a sculpture of two young women’s body.
The blank sketch-pad was not allowed to spread among the prisoners, the chief of section explained that the prisoners will write something “unhealthy” on the sketch- pad, and some boys will express their love to the girls through the sketch-pad, here they are not allowed to communicate. I insisted that this is the key part of my works, and I promised to monitor them. The final result is that they allowed me to give a try.
I arranged the books on the bookshelf. Not having enough many books to cover the bookshelf and many books had to be put with their covers outwardly. My little alarm clock was also be put there, tick tacking. I think it better be there until my activity is over.
30 young prisoners standing in front of me, they were a little bit reserved and me too. Friendship can only be cultivated after a certain amount of time, I think. Though I tried my best to ease them and I told them to call me my name directly they still felt uneasy, to them calling someone older than themselves by name is not so natural, and they insisted on calling me teacher Lee. One of the boys asked me a question, he want to know if it is true that a man’s purpose of being alive is to eat, and to eat is to being alive? I asked :”what is your opinion?”…….
He was taken away by a guard. Only one child waved goodbye to me.
On the bookshelf I left my address and telephone number, the chief of section insisted that I should only leave the address of the Zhenda Art Museum for the sake of my safety.
Things have started, but I can feel the difficulty that will come up in the future. It’s an unpredictable future that awaits me.
The procedure of visiting the Shanghai House of Correction is very complex ----- making reservation, reception, registering the photographic equipment, filling the forms, claiming the name tag, and to store the cell phone…… L, the chief of section, gave me a worm welcome. Bothered her too much made me felt uneasy.
I arranged all the books bought recently on the bookshelf, together with the small plants. The plants were put on the bottom. The chief of the section and me collected the sketchpads. Very little was written and drew on it, obviously they didn’t exchange the sketchpads.
Christmas has just over; I think I should give them some presents. Thus, I gave them a piece of chocolate each.
Beat a drum to spread a flower has begun without a flower, I used the book <<Poems of Haizi>>instead, those who was selected if can’t come with a talent show can read a poem of Haizi instead. The young prisoners don’t have much talent to show, mostly are “singing songs”, they singed very shy. One of the children imitated the moves of black bear, very alike.
Then is the communication by sitting together my principle is not talking too much, I merely played the role of an organizer. The most talked topic is the meaning of being alive, dreams, and what art is. I was surprised to find out most of them think that the destiny of being alive is to enjoy life and making a lot of money to do what you like. As to what is their likes, most of them had no idea. And as to if hard work will change one’s destiny I gave no direct answer, I simply talked about how I worked hard and what my daily work like.
Thanks to Zeng Yu and Wang Shui to assist the filming and photos.
Teacher B was responsible for accommodating me; he has been here for more than 11years and was familiar with everyone here so he simplified all the procedures.
The trainees was led in by the monitor one after another, their facial expressions showed no unfamiliarity, they even greeted me intimately, obviously I have been a friend! I explained the contents of the activities today in general: to draw a picture, everything will be ok, but it must be something comes from your heart.
I emphasized repeatedly that it is not a test, just draw the things come from your mind freely, being alike or not is meaningless; the aim is to express your true feelings.
The sun, the sky, the sea, the lawn, the house………….the rainbow, and the hill………….
A boy said he had no patience to read books, for he will be released after serving the full term of a sentence, he’d been here for three years, four years from being arrested……..probably this is the last meet! Several more children will be released the next month.
A girl told me he don’t have the talent of painting, I encouraged her to draw something, after I spoke highly of her paintings. The girl will have to stay in here for ten years; the longest in jail among them.
A boy drew the view of a street, he told me this is the most familiar place he can recollect, and he can remember all the details except the contents of the advertising board beside the street. I asked where it was, he told me it is a place in Wuhu Anhui province, nearby his home.
A boy drew a colorful rainbow. I asked when he saw the rainbow; he told me it was when he was a young child and only once……..
The activity came to an end, when the time for departure came, most of them waved “goodbye” to me.
Spring is here, the weather is getting wormer and the flowers are blooming. We have sunshine everyday; it’s the best time to have a walk around the countryside. However the children of the house of correction would have to stay inside the four surrounding walls,the only sense of spring they can get is from the neatly trimed dwarf like bushes,because they are turning green.
How wonderful it will be if the children can fly kites together with me on the playground. The playground is large in scale but empty all day long, it’s a good place to fly kites. I told the the chief of section that I want to take the children to fly kites, she told me she would have to report it to her supervisor to see if it will be permitted. Unfortunately our requirement was refused, we got to know it the day before the activity was due. The reason is for fear of the kites may fly onto the electrified wire fence and cause accident, it’s rather dangerous. Thus we had to change our plan and bought one hundred baloons from commodity market bearby Yuyuangarden.
The first game we will play is to explod the balloons by squeeing them, I will record their facial expressions with my camera when the balloon is exploding. Then they were divided into four groups, each group was required to come up with a game using the balloons to get everyone join in.
The atmosphere was very bustling and the young prisoners were very happy.
During the activity, a boy had conflict with the guard, I separated them. The boy told me he is very easy to lose his head, befroe he had even attcked a policeman. Before being arrested he always got involved in fights, once he badly wunded a guy on the head with a stick, in which there was a nail but he didn’t aware of it. I asked him:” are you arrested for getting involved in fighting?” He told me he was here because of robbing. When the activity came to an end he started beating the sandbag hanging in the room, his moves and facial epressions are very fierce, I could feel the physical strength inpacted inside his body was converted into violence and released by hitting the sandbag.
Two children told me that soon they will be released, and they wanted to take a farewell of me. I can feel their excitement of being released soon. I gave them my contact and told them I want to keep in touch with them.
I arrived at the house of correction very early in the morning. I should remove all the pictures containing bare bodies. It’s normal for art magazines and picture albums contain bare bodies, however in here they were not allowed to let the prisoners to read, because they will arouse the evil ideas of the young prisoners (the supervisor said so). In order to let the participants get access to the books, we had to do what was required!
In the afternoon, the trainees were led in by the monitor, but the majority of them didn’t bring back the sketchpads with them. We sit on the ground; I introduced some
famous works in the art history created in the form of collage which I have prepared
beforehand. And then I told them the activities today: to find the images they felt interesting and then cut them, rearrange them, and paste them in order to create a new picture. Then I handed out the scissors, magazines, glue, paper and oil painting sticks etc.
To young children and students of art school, creating pictures by way of collage is quite easy. However to the children of the house of correction it seems rather difficult- ----they have no idea of how to organize the images, in face of freedom they seemed to be at their wit’s end. I knew I can’t tell them what they should do; I just encouraged them to be brave, try different arrangements.
One of the boys browsed all magazines, but told me that there was no picture that interested him, the other boy asked me if his picture will ranked first among all works? A girl asked the same question. Another boy cut and pasted an entire picture to his paper…….
L, the chief of section sit beside from the beginning to the end, interestedly browsing Margaret’s picture album when came across pictures contain bare body he will ask me to remove that piece.
When the activity came to an end, I spread all the works on the ground, and let them gather around to watch. I said:” everyone has done a good job, everyone is different, everyone is excellent, if only you have confidence.”
我播放了一首Bob Dylan的歌，《Blowing in the Wind》.我简单的介绍了Bob Dylan的背景资料，并朗读了这首歌的歌词：要独自走过多少的远路，才能成为一个真正的男人？白鸽要飞越多少海洋，才能在沙滩上安息？炮弹还要再呼啸几时，才能真正销声匿迹？这答案啊，我的朋友，它已随风而逝。还要抬头张望多少次，人们才能看到蓝天？当权者还要再长几只耳朵，才能听到人民的哭声？还要有多少人死去，我们才会真正醒悟过来？这答案啊，我的朋友，它已随风而逝。大山还要矗立多久，才能遇到海浪的冲刷，人民还要受多少煎熬，才能得到早已承诺的自由？那些凌驾众人之上的人要有多少次回头躲避，徉装看不到他们的罪恶？这答案啊，我的朋友，它已随风而逝。
我决定也把这样一个调查放到我的活动中。我准备了很多张不同颜色的纸片，由他们自己来选。每个人都被要求在自己选好的纸片上写下“爱，是什么？”的回答。写好后，我收起来，打乱顺序，重新发到每个人的手里。然后，每个人都要读自己手上的卡片---另一个人对爱的理解。 朗读进行的并不顺利，多数人不善于在很多人面前表现自己。或者读得很快，或者声音很小，或者不愿意读。。。。。。显然，他们还不习惯用心来体会一个事物并表达出来。看看这些卡片上的文字吧：爱是无私的奉献，爱是关怀与关心；爱可以增加感情、亲情、友情，爱让世界充满和谐；爱就是深深的喜欢，喜欢就是淡淡的爱；爱=痛；爱的世界是彩色的，爱让我们学会珍惜；爱在人们生活当中是不可缺少的，有爱才有丰富的人生；爱是妈妈煲的一碗汤；爱是两人之间的感情，I love you;爱是自己的心跳；爱的是钱，爱？？；爱是世界上最珍贵的礼物。。。。。。
For two months we hadn’t seen each other, the trainees were missing me, and I could read it from their eyes. Summer has been here, the young prisoners are wearing summer prison uniforms instead of the common blue ones. Some of them didn’t come- ----some of them had been released, and some other had been transferred to Blue Bridge prison.
I played a song of Bob Dylan, <<Blowing the wind>>, I introduced the background knowledge of the singer in general and then read the lyrics of the song:
How many roads must a man walk down?
Before they call him a man
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand
How many times must the cannon balls fly?
Before they're forever banned
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free
How many times can a man turn his head?
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
How many times must a man look up?
Before he can see the sky
How many ears must one man have?
Before he can hear people cry
How many deaths will it take?
'Till he knows that too many people have died
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
Then I talked about the song with them. Most of them don’t like it for they can’t understand. A boy told me that he hates music and he had never listened to any music. Some of them told me they feel there is a gap when listening to it, for time is different. A girl told me she likes the song so I gave her the CD, and I told her that the picture on the cover was done by me.
After that I showed them a cartoon short movie <<The Balance>>. They could understand it and showed great interested in it, however when they were asked about their opinions about the movie they were reluctant to express their ideas. Some of them even told me that they were illiterate persons as an excuse.
I came across a survey on “what is love”, the surveyed were mostly children, and the answers are very interesting, diversified, and touching. Here are some of the answers “my grandma suffers from arthritis, she can’t bend down to varnish her toenail, so my grandpa will do it for her, even after he had arthritis in his hand, and that is love.” ” when someone falls in love with you the way he or she calls your name will be different. You know hearing your name called by the one loves you feels wonderful.” “Love is the girl put perfume and the boy put foo-foo water then they walk out together, and smell the scent of each other” “Love is when you eat out, you give all French fries to somebody, but you don’t mind if he will do like you.” “Love is the things make you happy when you feel tired.” ”Love is when my mum made a cup of coffee for my daddy she will taste it first to see if it tastes good” “Love is you always have kiss then you get tired of it but you still stay together and talk about aot more. Mummy and daddy are like this, when the have a kiss they looks very dirty.
I decided to put such a survey into my activity. I prepared a lot of paper in different colors and let them choose freely. Everyone was required to white down “what is love “on the paper chose. After that I collected the papers, I blended them, and redistributed them to the young prisoners, everyone should read out the paper on hand
. The process of read out is not very smooth; most of them are shy when reading and read it hastily or in very low voice some refused to read out …….. Obviously they haven’t got accustomed to feel something by heart and express it. Have a look at the sentences on the papers: love is dedicate selflessly, love is care; love can enhance family relationship and friendship, love can fill the world with harmony; love is like deeply, like is a shadow love; love is pain; the world of love is colorful, love teach us to treasure; love is necessary is our life, a rich life can’t go without love ; love is a bowl of soup prepared by mum; love is the emotion between two people, I love you; love is heartbeat; love is money, love?? ; Love is the most treasured gift in the world……
On the talks after that, I told them to put forward questions if they have. Tow of them whispered to each other for a while, one of them said:” we hope you will come once again.” Another one complemented: not once again, we wish you come once every month.”
I find the sketchpads that I distributed didn’t collected, I handed out 40 but there are only 10 on the bookshelf. I said:”the sketchpads contain your drawings and writings which are very important to me. All of them insisted that they had been handed in last time! I trust them, but where has the 30 sketchpad gone?
We took pictures together. According to regulations everyone’s face was covered with a black stripe to make it difficult to identify their identities, except me.
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