“4 Crimes To Individuation” is the result of four years of intensive research, fieldwork, and theoretical exploration, structured through the lens of alchemical symbolism. This book is not just an analysis of selfhood but an alchemical dissection of the forces that shape, distort, and often sabotage individuation.
At its core, the book intertwines the historical and mythological framework of the Viking Age with contemporary discourse on identity. Through firsthand study of Norse artifacts, ancient manuscripts, and burial sites, it reconstructs the rites of transformation that once defined personal and collective existence. These findings serve as a symbolic vessel, mirroring the alchemical stages of dissolution, purification, and reformation—mapping the journey of selfhood as a process of destruction and reconstruction.
Rather than approaching individuation as a linear path, this work engages with alchemical analysis to expose how identity is continually broken down and reshaped under societal, psychological, and technological pressures. The book challenges the modern illusion of self-determination, revealing how contemporary systems—family structures, cultural narratives, economic forces, and digital algorithms—function as unseen crucibles, forging and restricting individuality through invisible yet pervasive means.
Through a synthesis of historical study, philosophical critique, and symbolic reconstruction, “4 Crimes To Individuation” examines whether true selfhood can exist outside the predetermined formulas imposed by civilization. It is both an inquiry and an invocation, urging readers to confront the deep structural forces that define their existence and reconsider the very nature of transformation in an age that commodifies identity.
27x15cm
108 Pages
2022
By Dongbay (Yubo Xu)
As an artist and eco-warrior, I create installations using fragments of nature or industry with curiosity rather than condemnation, attempting to guide viewers into a deeper exploration of the intricate layers of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is a geological era characterized by the impact of human activity, but also brimming with opportunities for rethinking our relationship with the Earth. My work is rooted in my childhood experiences living and migrating in the industrial regions of Northeast China. There, the vitality of the earth rhymes with the relentless roar of machinery. This shaped my understanding of the earth's dynamic yet scarred nature. I often draw inspiration from traditional totemic symbols and visual systems that have historically linked communities to ecological wisdom. Composed of recycled skateboard trucks, tangled electrical wires, and animal hides salvaged from poachers, I present "Synthetic Totems." Its components are imbued with the remnants of industrial overproduction and ecological destruction. Weathered by use and abandonment, these fragments bear the imprint of a world shaped by ruthless production and plunder.
My childhood was spent in towns shrouded in construction dust, the rhythm of factories echoing across the land. The discovery of oil changed everything. A town rose almost overnight from the swamps of the Northeast. People frantically chased wealth, transforming the wetlands into a glittering yet turbulent city, where ambition surpassed stability, expanding faster than the social or ecological foundation could support. Through the chaos and intoxication brought by sudden wealth, the city prospered in spite of its fragility. Its vitality burned too quickly. As time passed and the oil wells gradually dried up, the land became desolate, leaving only empty streets and silent refineries, like a ship stripped of its soul, yet still echoing with the remnants of desire and decay. In those years that shaped the land, I saw its vibrant, resilient, yet incredibly fragile, ever-changing essence - the essence of a living, breathing entity.
This understanding of the vitality, trauma, and ever-changing state of the land guides me to constantly explore different materials for my creative work, from industrial waste, such as steel structures or cables, to natural materials, such as animal hides and human hair. The process of collecting these materials and their stories lays the groundwork for the emotions and logic I experience when working with them. Weaving and combining, the process is like alchemy that spontaneously forms within me rather than a repetition or adherence to a pre-designed plan. As an artist, I play the role of creator: infusing new "souls" into physical forms, combining the hides that once belonged to wolves and sheep with human hair to create a reincarnation, blurring the boundaries between species. These hybrid bodies generate a spiritual space that is both primordial and futuristic, simple and complex, a kinship that transcends traditional boundaries.
This entanglement becomes increasingly urgent as our era subtly erodes, manifested not only in the landscapes we inhabit but also in how we perceive them. The crisis we face is no longer external. It permeates inward, dissolving the boundaries between human and non-human. In this sense, I agree with Timothy Morton's concept of "dark ecology," the awareness that there are no clear boundaries between purity and pollution, life and decay (Morton, 2016). Creating in this state is not about seeking escape or repair, but about consciously dwelling within our shared pollution, tracing the strange beauty that still exists in death. This collapse transcends the realm of ecology. It tears apart the deep bonds that once tightly connected humanity to the natural world—a rupture I call "Apocalypse of Faith." This concept envisions a cycle: faith rises, declines in overexpansion, faces a crisis, and then is reborn. I use this perspective to examine our current disconnect from the earth rhythms. Anthropologist Anna Tsing observed, "We live in a turbulent landscape” (Tsing, 2015). My work is a response to this turbulence, reshaping these materials into ritualistic structures that suggest transformation, pointing towards a future where technological capabilities and ecological concern merge, rather than exacerbating our alienation.
My creative process typically begins with fieldwork, venturing to marginalized regions where the relationship between humanity and nature remains close, such as the frigid tundra and barren lands of Siberia, or the rainforests of Sumatra. Through shared living and interaction, I explore the hidden logic between the land and ways of life. I believe this reflects a desire to reimagine justice as ecological justice, a vibrant balance between species, matter, and time. Based on this belief, I strive to view creation as a collaboration with, rather than a control over, the environment. In this sense, becoming an eco-warrior is less a title and more a silent responsibility shared with all life. I focus on the violence of industrialization: ecosystems silenced by exploitation, their remains scattered in landfills and black markets. However, I am no longer content with mere documentation. I turn to deeper intervention. By blurring boundaries, species, bodies, and synthetic forms, my work creates a space for us to rethink our partnership with the Earth and its inhabitants. It places humanity in the position of participant rather than supervisor, acknowledging wolves and sheep as our relatives, their lives intertwined with ours in precarious yet profound ways.
I believe the era in which humanity can communicate directly with nature is rapidly passing. The linear flow of time and the extreme convenience of technology have made the world smaller, but they also made experience shallower. Travel and communication are reduced to a kind of "trophy-like" consumption. Culture is displayed as a decorative performance and museum-like showcase through which people are encouraged to construct, perform, and consume their identities. What was once a living system of knowledge exchange has become a curated spectacle, filtered through tourism, branding, and digital circulation. People record the world through possessions of trophies, but have lost true perception. Faced with this irreversible reality, I do not create nostalgic illusions of revival, but rather regard creation as an exploration, extracting the still-shining ecological wisdom from disappearing marginal cultures. I try to reawaken depth of feeling through my work, allowing the land, labor, and spirituality to speak in a contemporary context. I seek a balance between scientific thought and spiritual experience, between rational structure and accidental generation. My creations reflect a process of resonance with the world. To resist forgetting requires an attitude of awareness amidst irreversible change.
Bibliography
Morton, Timothy. Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence. Columbia University Press, 2016.
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton University Press, 2015.
The Mentawai Research Project is an ongoing field study that delves into the lived realities of one of the world’s most isolated yet culturally rich indigenous groups. My research focuses on direct, unfiltered human interactions with societies that exist at the margins of modern civilization, revealing not only their deep connection to nature but also the inevitable imprints of contemporary influences and contradictions within their way of life.
Through an immersive investigative approach, I have explored the significance of Mentawai’s traditional tattooing practices, a form of ancestral storytelling etched onto the skin, and Jaraik, the symbolic objects hung at household entrances, which serve as markers of belief, protection, and identity. These elements, though deeply rooted in the tribe’s history, reflect an evolving tension between preservation and transformation—traditions threatened by external forces yet dynamically adapting to the shifting world around them.
This research is not an act of nostalgia but an effort to document and engage with the wisdom embedded in these traditions, recognizing them as a form of heritage that belongs to all of humanity. While cultural erosion and dilution may be inevitable, the knowledge and philosophies carried within these practices remain invaluable. By situating myself within the rhythms of Mentawai life, this project seeks to capture their embodied knowledge, sensory experiences, and spiritual frameworks, contributing to a broader discourse on the future of indigenous wisdom in a rapidly homogenizing world. The work remains ongoing, expanding its inquiry into the fluid intersections of identity, ecology, and time.
2024
“Transmutation, Purification & Projection 蛻變,提純與鍛造” is a research-driven exploration of alchemical practice as both a metaphysical inquiry and a symbolic design process. This hand-bound manuscript, inspired by the aesthetics and structure of classical Chinese texts, reconstructs alchemical methodology as a universal medium of communication, one that transcends cultural and temporal boundaries.
Rooted in the historical and philosophical dimensions of alchemy, this work investigates its role beyond early proto-chemistry, positioning it as a system for understanding the underlying principles of transformation. By examining alchemy’s layered structure of material, symbolic, and metaphysical, the research draws parallels between the alchemical pursuit of essence and contemporary design thinking. The book reinterprets alchemical processes as models for creation, questioning how humans engage with signals, symbols, and meaning in everyday life.
Through historical analysis, comparative study of alchemical analogs, and a conceptual framework that bridges ancient wisdom with modern interpretation, this work offers a neutral and poetic lens on the ways alchemical symbolism continues to shape our perception of the world. It serves as an invitation to reconsider transmutation not just as a physical operation, but as a dynamic process of perception, communication, and existential inquiry.
20x20cm
72 Pages
2020