RAM Documentary | Tan Jing: Inlet of Arid Dreams

Tan Jing: Inlet of Arid Dreams is organized by the Rockbund Art Museum and curated by Xu Tiantian, Curatorial Manager. The exhibition was held at RAM, Shanghai, from November 8, 2023 to February 25, 2024.
"Inlet of Arid Dreams" is a place name in Tan Jing's imagination. It refers to a transitional realm between arrival and return, reality and illusion. Here, personal desires are stranded in the landscape of memory. Smell plays a distinctive role in Tan Jing's art. Olfactory memories, unlike verbal recollections, cannot be easily rewritten. She incorporates these sensory memories tied to identity and locality into her sculptural works. The artist aims to fathom these life experiences and pose questions: when dealing with diasporic individuals, how can we comprehend the complexity of their identity and emotions? Confronting traumatic experiences, what are the alternatives to the silent suppression of feelings?