{"id":9650,"date":"2017-04-13T12:14:24","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T02:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-711166-2356953.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=9650"},"modified":"2017-04-13T12:19:58","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T02:19:58","slug":"nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/","title":{"rendered":"NIKKI LAM: UPROOTING MANDARIN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Via <a href=\"http:\/\/photodust.org\/\">PHOTODUST<\/a>:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-embed tmblr-full\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nikki Lam, Uprooting Mandarin (2015)\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/203795177?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<p>As a symbolic gesture, a small seedless mandarin tree has been taken out of a pot. Soil removed and momentarily replanted in the grey mud on a beach in Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>Before being taken out again.<\/p>\n<p>And again.<br \/>\nAnd again.<br \/>\nAnd again.<br \/>\n(So that I could get this video right)<\/p>\n<p>It is an inappropriate action for me, or anyone, to dig up a mandarin tree.<br \/>\nExtract good fortune from the land.<\/p>\n<p>Rootless.<\/p>\n<p>Homeless.<\/p>\n<p>Seedless.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u67d1 (mandarin fruit) and \u91d1 (gold) are puns in Cantonese,<br \/>\nboth pronounce as \u2018gum\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Mandarin is a symbol for good fortune.<br \/>\nThere is always a small potted seedless mandarin tree at my Grandma\u2019s for<br \/>\nChinese New Year. Its fruits consumed by the family throughout the month.<br \/>\nAfter dinner and during family gatherings.<\/p>\n<p>The tree usually dies weeks later due to the lack of sunlight.<br \/>\nThe sort of thing that occurs in a tiny Hong Kong apartment.<\/p>\n<p>Grandma purchases a new one every year.<br \/>\nIt is seedless anyway.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Nature has its own way to adapt.<\/p>\n<p>Adapting is an aggressive and extremely<br \/>\nawkward action that requires repetition.<\/p>\n<p>Repetition of history.<\/p>\n<p>Repetition of clashing with the environment.<br \/>\nRepetition of self-doubts.<\/p>\n<p>Repetition of history.<\/p>\n<p>Repetition of cutting all roots violently.<br \/>\nRepetition of forcing the tree to adapt, call it mandarin,<br \/>\ndespite it came from somewhere other than \u2018China\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Repetition of history.<\/p>\n<p>It adapts. It normalises its hybridity.<br \/>\nIt grows again, as long as you hide its roots.<\/p>\n<p>Select and discard. One needs to abandon certain values in order to adapt, be that language, ritual, culture. The most difficult decisions you have to make<br \/>\nin order to continue adapting.<\/p>\n<p>In order to be identified.<\/p>\n<p>Affirm my belonging.<br \/>\nDefend my territory?<\/p>\n<p>Relocate my roots.<br \/>\nRedefine my identity to a point of divergence.<br \/>\nLearn. Give up.<br \/>\nLearn again. Give up more. Assimilate.<br \/>\nCultivate what is added and left behind, old and new, past and present.<br \/>\nDo it again.<\/p>\n<p>Dualities of a<br \/>\nconscious self.<br \/>\nRootlessly rooted.<\/p>\n<p>Excerpt from <a href=\"http:\/\/t.umblr.com\/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fnikkilam.info&amp;t=YTY1MDUwMjc3ZTM0ZmVmOTU3M2JhNmQ5ZTlmMzdiYTlhYjg5YjQzYSxPU2NlY2NhTg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AH1fkN2QC093DMG2uR3FW4g&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Fphotodust.org%2Fpost%2F159048714529%2Fnikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin&amp;m=1\" target=\"_blank\">Nikki Lam<\/a>, <i>Uprooting Mandarin<\/i>, 2015, HD video and text.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Via PHOTODUST: As a symbolic gesture, a small seedless mandarin tree has been taken out of a pot. Soil removed and momentarily replanted in the grey mud on a beach in Melbourne. Before being taken out again. And again. And again. And again. (So that I could get this video right) It is an inappropriate action for me, or anyone, to dig up a mandarin tree. Extract good fortune from the land. Rootless. Homeless. Seedless. \u2026 \u67d1 (mandarin fruit) and \u91d1 (gold) are puns in Cantonese, both pronounce as \u2018gum\u2019. Mandarin is a symbol for good fortune. There is always a small potted seedless mandarin tree at my Grandma\u2019s for Chinese New Year. Its fruits consumed by the family throughout the month. After dinner and during family gatherings. The tree usually dies weeks later due to the lack of sunlight. The sort of thing that occurs in a tiny Hong <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":609,"featured_media":9657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1730,1538],"tags":[27,647],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NIKKI LAM: UPROOTING MANDARIN - Peril magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NIKKI LAM: UPROOTING MANDARIN - Peril magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Via PHOTODUST: As a symbolic gesture, a small seedless mandarin tree has been taken out of a pot. Soil removed and momentarily replanted in the grey mud on a beach in Melbourne. Before being taken out again. And again. And again. And again. (So that I could get this video right) It is an inappropriate action for me, or anyone, to dig up a mandarin tree. Extract good fortune from the land. Rootless. Homeless. Seedless. \u2026 \u67d1 (mandarin fruit) and \u91d1 (gold) are puns in Cantonese, both pronounce as \u2018gum\u2019. Mandarin is a symbol for good fortune. There is always a small potted seedless mandarin tree at my Grandma\u2019s for Chinese New Year. Its fruits consumed by the family throughout the month. After dinner and during family gatherings. The tree usually dies weeks later due to the lack of sunlight. The sort of thing that occurs in a tiny Hong Read More &raquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peril magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-13T02:14:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-13T02:19:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/nikki-lam.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Photodust\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/\",\"name\":\"Peril magazine\",\"description\":\"Asian-Australian Arts &amp; Culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/nikki-lam.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/nikki-lam.jpg\",\"width\":3200,\"height\":1800},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/\",\"name\":\"NIKKI LAM: UPROOTING MANDARIN - Peril magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-13T02:14:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-13T02:19:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/cdfd130efa611e21c1b9fcc595d8b951\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/visual-arts\/nikki-lam-uprooting-mandarin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NIKKI LAM: UPROOTING MANDARIN\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/cdfd130efa611e21c1b9fcc595d8b951\",\"name\":\"Photodust\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ec47fec381aaf1c2be16cd51002c7646?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ec47fec381aaf1c2be16cd51002c7646?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Photodust\"},\"description\":\"PHOTODUST is an independent art and photography organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. 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Soil removed and momentarily replanted in the grey mud on a beach in Melbourne. Before being taken out again. And again. And again. And again. (So that I could get this video right) It is an inappropriate action for me, or anyone, to dig up a mandarin tree. Extract good fortune from the land. Rootless. Homeless. Seedless. \u2026 \u67d1 (mandarin fruit) and \u91d1 (gold) are puns in Cantonese, both pronounce as \u2018gum\u2019. Mandarin is a symbol for good fortune. There is always a small potted seedless mandarin tree at my Grandma\u2019s for Chinese New Year. Its fruits consumed by the family throughout the month. After dinner and during family gatherings. The tree usually dies weeks later due to the lack of sunlight. 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