The Burrow
2021
Four videos, one photograph

 

"The Burrow," echoing Kafka's "The Burrow," is a project that interweaves four juxtaposed videos, each serving as a chapter, to present a comprehensive portrait of a middle-class coastal community in China, entrenched behind security barriers. Through slightly absurd documentary-style images, Yao Qingmei showcases women security guards working in the underground control room, nature under surveillance, a group of disoriented and exhausted security guards from training, and vividly colored semi-natural landscapes.

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The accumulation of images, unresolved technical malfunctions, repetitive commands, and incessant labor maintain the stability of the community structure and a self-repairing landscape. This project describes the panoramic management of a digital society and the common dilemma of all inhabitants within this closed system.