talk soon xxx
Yumoi Zheng
27.10.22 - 19.11.22
“talk soon xxx is a collection of memories of sisterhood and extension of self expression from my phone. Grandma called my name and address to gods and ancestors at the Jesa(Chinese Cantonese practice) for blessing. I am currently with the blessing of living in the diaspora and using my phone documenting the tense relationship between chaos and order, love and pain, laugh and tear in my growth. Me and my sisters communicate through a small phone screen and characterised existing in the two different spaces, just like in a Tamagotchi. ‘Talk soon xxx’ is a text to send kisses and blessings to the future.”
Yumoi Zheng is a Chinese Transfeminine artist working with video, performance, sound, fashion design and poetry based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. As a Chinese transfeminine person she finds it liberating to be able to investigate these interweaving identities through her creative practice. Her work explores memory and nostalgia and how she can find new possibilities for her future through hope, connection and love.
Hugs and kiss to my friend help me, Thank you my sisters Taffy,Ling,Ricky and my friends Kat and Calum also Bebe allow me using silly video chat and funny video in the show. Thank you Max for helping me! Thank you Angel give me such a gift of helping complete my show. Thank you TJ and Moya always x and thank you Grandma for the jesa blessing tonight.
“My grandma is always doing ‘Jesa’ by asking god and ancestors to watch out and blessing every family number. (Jesa is a sacrifice ritual that refers to the use of string incense, wine, meat, vegetables, cloth and jade to the deity, saints or dead soul, and prayer.) When the day was about to come to New Zealand, my grandma was doing Jesa to pray to god and our ancestors. She sings my name and my address to them (god and ancestors can find me).
I feel blessed and same time I feel a bit heavy to carry. It reminds me of the movie Kiki‘s delivery service when Kiki went to a new city and my whole family and friend were watching me go. At this moment I feel they wouldn’t see the same me ever again. In New Zealand for 8 years I grew up so much, With the change came my name, my body and my gender. Eric, Yuri, Yumoi.
My family and I communicate through a small mobile phone screen, and we are in two different Spaces to build a platform where we can show and disguise our different selves. It's like a carefully nurtured character in a Tamagotchi. During the years abroad I experienced different experiences and lost myself in places they did not know. Sometimes I want to ask the gods and ancestors if they still watch out for me and bless me. From youngest brother to youngest sister, from faggot to tranny, do you remember me?
If I can still play mahjong with my sister for four people like before. Taffy (my sister) asked me once did you think about the future, the future if everything was destroyed. I just wanted to have fun. While I recognize the pain and fear of my change, I am in a way unafraid. I felt lonely and independent, and I should be in charge of my future. I found courage in fragmented memories and journal-like videos recorded on my phone. I feel grounded in my growth. In this process I became a sister to my friends and we support each other. I heard two of the most beautiful words in the world, faggot and tranny.
I think love and pain and humour coexist In this post-internet world.”