WHAT COLOR WAS THE SKY YESTERDAY?

Materials: printed paper, plastic board

Dimensions: about the size of an A4 paper

Time: 2021

I came to think about our memories of past events and the role photography plays in forming them. No human can accurately describe or reproduce things that happened before, so people begin to use photography to help remember. Although photographs are commonly used as evidence—for crimes, news, or simply a family gathering, etc.—they can only bring a certain part of the past, and only from the photographer’s perspective. Sometimes photographs can even be totally wrong.

In this project, I want to invite the audience to think about the past, and then look at the photograph as a reference. I carved out the text on a paper printed with a photo of the sky, and then stuck the paper to a mirror-like reflective board, so people could look at the text while looking at the reflected sky. Besides, it would be interesting to look at the sky by looking down. As for the place to exhibit my work, I chose a wide area where many people walk by. The path on ‘the cut’ of Carnegie Mellon University is the perfect place. While people walk by, they may nod at the photo and believe that is exactly the color of the sky yesterday, or they may question the credibility of the picture.