Everyone Is God To Each Other(2023)
Starting from the reflection and observation of triangular desire proposed by Rene Girard, which is also called mimetic theory, this project explores how people get lost in the mechanism of desire without being aware of it and the means of getting inner self, dealing in particular with the absurdity of “Everyone is god to each other”. It encompasses three parts, ‘Falling individual and absurd collective’, ‘Disillusion’, ‘The horn grows in the flesh’. Applying different objects and strong-expressive forms to create a miniature world with different metaphors. It is not only a phenomenology of the lost self but also an image collection of self-exploration.
Part 1: Falling individual and absurd collective
People mimic the other who is deemed to live the ideal life subjectively. To be specific, chasing for what the other chase for, desiring what the other desire. It is a new “religion”. Mimicking mechanically in various ways, without considering the reason and the final target. People forget the fact that our life will be burnt out in the same way, we can’t escape from time and death. This unprecedented fierce competition and worship(mimic) is exactly the metaphor of the self in danger. A circle or desire and an absurd pattern. Everyone focuses on the other, neglecting the self completely.
Part 2: Disillusion
People can’t stop mimicking, till they reach the ideal life of the great beyond. We will never be satisfied even if we acquired the objects of desire, or reached the position of the other. Because the great beyond only exists in our illusion. What we have in the pursuit is endless disillusion and desperation. We are suffering from a great contradiction and a sense of alienation.
Only a fewer people choose to look back and consider ” What is the great beyond? And Why?”.
Part 3: The horn grows in the flesh
Depravity is a necessary process for the shaping of the self, as important as the putrefacio of the black stage in alchemy. The meaning of life is to perfect imperfection so that we can reach psychological integration. To leave this absurd circle of desire, people should turn on the self. The moment we end the obsession of mimicking is when we see the truth of the ridiculous deification and starting point of happiness and satisfaction.