Tao Hui From Sichuan to Shenzhen, 2017

This sound installation depicts a female character confiding to her hometown sweetheart her years of struggle in Shenzhen. Along the way, she shifts from the (Southwestern) Sichuanese dialect to (Southeastern) Cantonese, symbolizing a transformation in her identity.

The narrated words constantly scroll up, like subtitled lyrics in mobile music apps, and is embedded on an old-style washbasin stand, which is still commonly seen in rented rooms in the “urban villages” of migrant workers. With the sound coming from headphones placed in the washbasin, the screen takes the place of the mirror—as though a reflection of the emotional journey undertaken by millions of migrant workers.