How will you see my scars?

How will you see the impressions made upon my skin?

In Jingwei Bu's new body of work PUNCH, she has critically examined her material obsession with aluminium; the capacity that it holds, the retention of its form and the way that the words etched upon it were created through vigorous and repeated force, as opposed to written from left to right. 

Jingwei has chosen to punch the three English words, shed, peel and surrender, across the surface of the material, durationally and repeatedly. She has developed this body of work as an intersection of both performances practiced in solitude, and a type of performative meditation; one that has been sharp, violent and loud. 

The words shed, peel and surrender, and their inherent meanings are enacted through the performative process of punching onto the aluminium, but they are also linguistically dispersed across the material; their meanings themselves becoming recontextualised with every punch. The individual letters that Jingwei holds in her hands are shifted, twisted or turned before re-punching again upon the surface of the aluminium sheets. 

How the letters take form and become visible structures, are only made apparent through the abrasive action and loud noise, only faintly not heard in the gallery itself. 

Aluminum itself is unforgiving as a material structure – it will not take edits or allow for erasures. It cannot increase itself once it has been folded. Thise quality of relationship that aluminium holds in this instance, and the way that Jingwei has manipulated and imprinted upon it, parallels the relationship our own bodies have hold towards the invisible marks left by perseverance in the face of continual toil. Our bodies are hardened and strengthened by these persistent trials. .its perseverance and unmarked etches. They are the marks that you cannot visibly witness, but are hardened and strengthened by the persistence of continual toil.

Solitude can be thought of in two ways. expressed in two-fold: a) One, as a survival instinct: – we choose to remain alone for in fear of being misunderstood by others, aTwo, and b) an internal practice of solitude, wherein our own commitment towards ourselves will be what strengthens our ability to surrender and embrace what is. In Jingwei’s case, this solitude and loneliness has been they have been the experiences born from migration, loneliness, and motherhood. The ongoing responsibilities intertwined with these such experiences are, for the most part majority, ones that are left invisible, both for a migrant, a mother and an artist. In a concoction of ways, these new challenges have included been adapting to a new language, locating herself in an alien alternative environment, and upholding parental responsibilities. Within all of this, perhaps linear sentences cannotdo not do justice to articulate or express what is felt oneself through the body. 

The tools Jingwei has used and how, such as a found rock in the palm of her hand, signify the primal instincts for communication that exists beyond the common English language. To hold a rock in your hand and make a distinct mark is an action that communicates beyond the need for speech. 

When you lift, stain, pour, or punch, there is little room to overthink your own choices or actions. By punching, Jingwei meditates on the meanings of those three words: shed, peel and surrender. How these three words have intersected into her life and become necessary practices tobecame necessities to endure the loneliness of miscommunication, has been consistently practiced with diligence. By meditating on them, she has allowed /Further, how comradery and genuine friendship to develop, has been made throughout this process of navigating the unknowns speakings to athe versatility and resilience inof each of us. 

While words are helpful to articulate and make sense of others and ourselves, it is actions and innate feelings that make noises which surpass logical ideas of what comprehension looks like. Throughout her lifetime, Jingwei has lived between China, across both Germany, and Australia, with two decades of lived experiences communicating to others through a combination of languagesGerman, English and her mother tongue, Mandarin. To this day,  Jingwei to this day remains consistent in bridging forges connections between the culture of heracross her homeland culture and her new community on Kaurna Yerta.

In navigating three different languages, across three different continents, Jingwei finds herself with an embodied way of relating to the world around her – not simply to communicate through speech, but as a need to be understood in a visceral manner. 

Performance has become a mode thatto allows time to become compressed, attuned to and focussed. JingweiShe does not use a clock, or the definitions prescribed by a verbal language. There is an alternative structure that measures her internal landscape.

Time has become a friend. Time directs us through novel andyet bold courses of actions. Some choices have hurt and some have left distinct marks, within ourselves that are hidden beneath our skin. For Jingwei, her materials areexist as close companions for her process in the studio, and in life itself. She has often spoken about the allure they have forhad on her – instillingurging a desire to hold, to collect, or even to lay besides them. 

Aluminium, English letters, a found rock, and a forceful gesture are the tools she has used. They reject considered sentences, and make room for a direct way of relating to one another. 

Jingwei has used her body, her physicality, arms, legs, patience, and quietness. She has taken breaks to cook food for her children, spend time with her community, practice Tai chi with her Buddhist community and contemplate on the three words that predicate the exhibition: shed, peel, and surrender. 

In PUNCH, Jingwei has used ephemeral gestures, and the lasting traces that they leave behind, to create a metaphor for the ongoing process of persistence.