The Great Wall 2000 Years Ago
2001
Black-and-white photograph
50 x 144 in.
Source: http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/mahjongartists/index.html
I think this is so funny. I am not sure what it's trying to say, but it's funny. It has a past met present feeling to it. the grey color makes it seem like a old photo, but the quality suggest it is impossible for it to be old.
I don't know what to think in terms of which figure does not belong in the picture. I mean, look at it, the title really influence what views think about the image. if the title is untiltled, things might be interpret differently.
my first impression is that the guy in the back does not belong to the picture. this is a old wall, as the title suggests it's like 2000 years ago. so the guy in the back is displaced. Almost like when a pedestrian just happen to get into the movie set for some old time movie. How strange and out of place! and precisely because of the displacement, there is a comic effect.
but if you think about it, the quality of the photo suggest the presentness of the setting. the wall is still there now, is it not? so it is a portrayal of the now. so what's the guy in ancient attire doing here. He should be the displaced figure. someone doing a dress up thing for an event that has to do with empirical China perhaps.
I think what the artist is trying to say is that the Chinese people are displaced between the past and present. Like they are stuck in a funny place now just like the photo shows. and the present day looking guy is changing his clothes, suggesting change in the identity of the people, but people who are still located in a very traditional China (as a location) and its history as suggested by the great wall.
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