Our residency project at Chongqing's Dimensions Art Center, as well as our trip in China were supposed to be all about studying philosophical Daosism and Zhuangzi's rejection of civilization, hierarchy and language.
But how can one show such considerations by using visual narration ? Issues related to the source of all things (道, the Dao), to the duality and complementarity of Yin and Yang (), and to the proliferation of ritualistic customs are not easy to tackle.
This is mainly what led us to visit some Daoist temples in China, where religious Daoism is practiced.
Inspired and influenced by Buddhism and Confucianism, religious Daoism is part of a syncretic system which was formed around the time of the Han Dynasty.
In Xi'an, we visited the Temple of the Eight Immortals (八仙庵, Ba Xian An), which is said to be built during the Song dynasty and expanded until the Qing dynasty.
