Vanishing Fishing Industry
Urban Sculpture
This urban installation will be built on the water surface of Xiamen's Shapaowei Typhoon Shelter, along which it will be visible to people when they hit up the Netflix shops. The inspiration came from a trip my friend and I took to Shapaowei, Xiamen. Once the centre of Xiamen's fishing industry, modern skyscrapers and commercial districts now surround Shapaowei, a stark contrast to the low-rise stacked houses it gathers, like pieces of history sunk in the midst of urban development.
The installation, titled ‘Vanishing Fishing Shadows’, captures the fading culture of the fishing village of Shapaowei, extracting elements such as fused fish storage tanks, boat structures and the dense architecture of the village. Located within the harbour, it preserves the memory of the past in the midst of rapid modernisation. Through the juxtaposition of the fishing village installation with its traditional features and the modern street that has been transformed into a Netflix hit spot, it invites one to think about the delicate balance between urban processes and cultural preservation