That look between animal and man, which may have played a crucial role in the development of human society, and with which, in any case, all men had always lived until less than a century ago, has been extinguished.
–John Berger
As I see it, the act of observing animals itself is a kind of lonely behavior with a sense of ritual, the act itself boasting enough charm already. It is fairly enough for the symbols it takes on to endow this subject with much interpretation. They are the earliest subject
that appeared in paintings; they are used as sacrifice; they occupy 8 positions in the zodiac of Greek mythology; they are the object that Rene Descartes’ dualism studies; they are both raw material and tools for production; they are gifts representing friendship in diplomacy; they are the same as rockwork and waterweeds in zoos; they are fed and they even feed the human race; they can even be the monument of human civilization. However, those are too far away from me indeed. Through photography, I always want to directly display facts in front of
the world without any decoration, but when facts are lying in front of eyes, they feel dull for being insipid and straightforward.
Due to the deposition through time, the feeling of substance that film itself brings about will break all the blandness. My dependence on this sort of accidentally formed accumulation of silver salt is derived from an experience. I feel that almost everything I adore comes from this sort of accidental experience. It looks like a blemish, an absolutely material mark. When the act
of shooting takes place, the stains on the surface of images seem just like stains left by the fact that those animals being shot have really touched the surface. This layer of substance becomes a screen for me to escape from direct eye contact with animals. It makes it possible for violence to turn into beauty, and disguises violence in a lonely manner, turning it into another feeling. In the meantime, it assumes that the feeling is very mysterious, with a ritual. And these animals’ poses are terrible enough. They seem simple and serene, but the most terrible thing is that this state has already
been there.
动物和人之间相互的凝视，可以在人类社会发展中成为重要的一幕。而且，在不到一个世纪以前，所有人还以这样的价值观念来生活，现在却已经绝迹了。
——约翰•伯格
在我看来，观察动物是带有一种仪式感且孤单的行为，行为本身已经具有了足够的魅力。它所具有的符号指向已经足以让这个题材拥有过多的阐述，它是绘画中最早出现的题材，它被用作祭祀的贡品，它在希腊神话黄道十二宫中占据了八个位置，它是笛卡尔在二元论中的研究对象，它既是生产原料又是生产工具，它是外交中互通友谊的馈赠佳品，它在动物园中与假山、水草一样，它被饲养甚至饲养人类，它甚至可以作为人类文明的纪念碑，然而，那对于我实在过于疏远，我总是希望通过摄影将事实直接地未经修饰的陈列在世人面前，但当事实平铺在眼前时，却又因其平淡和直接感到乏味。
由于时间的沉积，胶片本身所带有的物质感要将这一切平淡打破，我对这种偶然形成的银盐堆积产生的依赖源于一种经验，我感受到任何所喜爱的事物，几乎都来自于这种偶然的经验，它看上去像污垢，是绝对物质性的痕迹，当拍摄这个行为发生时，在着影像表面的污点，就像这层表面真实接触过被拍摄的动物的污点。这层物质成为了我逃避与动物直接对视的屏障，它让暴力成为了美的可能，让暴力孤独伪装成另一种情感，并假设这种情感非常神秘和具有仪式，而这些动物的姿态也已经足够糟糕，他们看起来简单而且安详，但最糟糕的是这种状态已经发生。
