Work
a) Inkjet printing, hardcover edition
b) 25 x 25 (cm)
c) 2019

Many ‘sitters’ can be seen everywhere throughout Shanghai City, who
are responsible for managing and reporting anything on the pavement at
all times. Sometimes they wander around or stare blankly at the street;
sometimes they sit alone muttering on the chairs , like objective and site-
specific narrators. This makes it difficult for people to distinguish what the
objectives would be with this kind of ‘naturally existing monitors’ , whose
working environments are still strewn through and conspicuously circled
in public sphere of China. Interestingly, however, the private activity,
behaviour, mentality, and lifestyle of the sitters were exposed to the public
space at the same time – with various uniforms, chairs and personal
belongings being displayed – , which shapes a daily scene of China.
Through this perspective, I developed a series of photographs of the ‘city-
sitters’ directly reproducing the imprints of such stratified labour in Chinese
public spaces, including the present and absent moments of some of the
‘sitters’. In addition, through the format of a photo book, my intention was
to respond to the reality of being monitored in various/trivial forms around
the clock in China, as well as to question the scenario of seeing and being
seen between the citizens and the ‘sitters’.


