Umbrella and Jellyfish

Author

yanran biFollow

Date of Award

Spring 6-1-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Digital Media

First Advisor

Shona Kitchen

Second Advisor

Alex Chechile

Third Advisor

Walter Kitundu

Abstract

Rainy season arrives as soon as the summer begins in Shanghai. For some reason, I rarely remember to bring an umbrella with me. I have a lot of umbrellas, most of them are transparent ones bought at subway stations. When it suddenly starts pouring rain, umbrella vendors in Shanghai gather at each crowded exit of the subway sta- tions to sell umbrellas to people like me. The cheapest umbrellas they have are always the transparent ones. The whole city is turned upside down by the rain with its reflections on every street. Then a transparent umbrella opens up, then another, leaving the station, and disappearing around the street corners, like a group of jellyfish wandering through the damp city, a parallel ocean where we reside.

When one rainy season reached an end, I made a jellyfish using one of the transpar- ent umbrellas I have. I feel the urge to make something when there are moments and feelings beyond my spoken language. These are usually not scientific but rather a fantasy I create for myself. Interpretation is more important to me than intention. I trust my instinct to encounter my surroundings rather than explanations if there should be any. This probably is the reason why I find it very hard to describe those works. I have used vague descriptions like “something tender”, “feeling of a hug” and “I want people to lie down” when being asked about what I want to achieve with these works, be it an installation, a sound piece or any form that feels the most relevant to me. They are the supplementary language I rely on to communicate with the world.

Recommended Citation

bi, yanran, "Umbrella and Jellyfish" (2024). Masters Theses. 1229.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1229

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.