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Palimpsest
Jes Fan
Artwork 2023
Artwork: Jes Fan, Palimpsest (2023). Colour video, sound. 5 min 43 sec. Artwork © Jes Fan, loaned courtesy of Akeroyd Collection.
Artist Jes Fan Title Palimpsest Date 2023 Materials Colour video, sound Dimensions 5 min 43 sec Credit Artwork © Jes Fan, loaned courtesy of Akeroyd Collection

Jes Fan's single-channel video details a more than two year process where the artist, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Hong Kong, embedded the Chinese characters for 'Pearl of the Orient' (東, 方, 之, and 珠) into the mantles of live oysters native to the area. The phrase, which is also the Anglo-imperial nickname for Hong Kong, is introduced to the molluscs who then turn and repeatedly coat the words, absorbing the intrusion yet rendering it iridescent. The work can be read as an exploration of the idea that imposed language can act as a form of violence or infection, which the body (in this case the oyster) attempts to heal. Featuring visceral and sensual close-up shots of the oysters' inner layers, the video shows bright orange flesh concealing a developing pearl, intercut with scenes of oyster cultivation and waterscapes.

b.1990, Scarborough, Canada; works in New York

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