Returning into the Deep Forest--A Methodological Practice Around Memory, Asianness, and Speech

Author

Yu YeFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-31-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Digital Media

First Advisor

Mariela Yeregui

Second Advisor

Leah Beeferman

Third Advisor

Triton Mobley

Abstract

">">The title of this thesis is borrowed from the Tang dynasty poem Deer Enclosure by Wang Wei: “Empty mountain, no one in sight—only the echo of voices. Returning sunlight slips into the deep forest, shining once more on moss.” I feel like my essay is responding to this kind of sensation: light does not shine head-on, but folds back, glancing sideways through dense branches, illuminating what is often overlooked. In that gesture of return—quiet, angled, persistent. This thesis unfolds in three chapters, each following a distinct path—image (Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes), movement (The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald and Su Ge’s The Universal and the Particular: What is Asianness?), and speech (my own performative lectures)—to explore memory, trauma, identity, and expression. These chapters do not progress linearly, but instead represent three different approaches toward a shared thematic core. The writing emerges from a bodily sensitivity shaped by my cross-cultural experience—an unease and attunement that arises when navigating between inside and outside, between languages and positions.

Recommended Citation

Ye, Yu, "Returning into the Deep Forest--A Methodological Practice Around Memory, Asianness, and Speech" (2025). Masters Theses. 1369.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1369

Creative Commons License

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