Jump Off

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2021

8K

6 seconds

Digital Laser printing on Xuan paper, Hi-resolution scans, Digital inkjet printing on Museum Etching paper
 

One day in the winter of 2017, when I was working in Beijing, as I was walking into a subway station in the evening, I noticed a man on the roof of a building next to the entrance standing on the edge and pacing, hesitantly. Several people were gathered at the bottom, including some who laughed at him for not daring to actually jump off the building. Like many who passed by, I took a few photos and videos and then hurried into the subway station and left because I didn’t want to watch a stranger commit suicide in front of me, even though he might not eventually do it.

 

For him, something crazy must have happened in his own life to drive him to this step, maybe it was excessive life stress, perhaps it was an emotional breakdown, or gambling, drugs, crime, all kinds of things, but whatever the reason was, when he decided to walk up to the roof, I guess the whole world probably changed color in his eyes, becoming extreme, becoming crazy. And emotions can be contagious from person to person. For me, when I saw a man hesitating to jump off a building on my way home after a busy day, it made me think about what I was doing in this city, what’s my job’s meaning. I wanted to express the release of this depression and madness through these oversaturated, bright, reversed, and clashing colors.