Chen Ronghui: An Ordinary Evening in New Haven
Inspired by the poem of the same name written in 1949 by American modernist poet Wallace Stevens, Chen Ronghui's 'An Ordinary Evening in New Haven' is a narrative about light and memory, and an exploration of the night and state of mind.
In 2019, Chen Ronghui left his homeland, where he had lived for 30 years, for his enrollment at Yale University in New Haven, U.S. When he first arrived in the city, he was concerned about nighttime security in the local area. After a long day at school or at his studio, he would jog back to his rented apartment while constantly praying for his safety on the way. His shortness of breath and permeating anxiety upon getting home usually resulted in him directly sinking into the sofa without even turning on the lights. It was exactly in this moment of tranquility that the street lights quietly passed through his window, with elegant and shimmering gleams casting the dim walls鈥攁ttaching a sense of aesthetic to the bleak shadows in the room. Such a scene of great charm seemed to appear only in Chen's childhood memory: living with his grandparents in the countryside of Zhejiang Province, the young Chen was full of curiosity about nature in darkness. As their thrifty lifestyle made his grandparents reluctant to turn on the lights when night fell, Chen would lean against the window, with the quiet moonlight and flickering fireflies enlightening his path through exploring the world of the surroundings.
In Wallace Stevens' 'An Ordinary Evening in New Haven', his seemingly endless meditation on the 'real' and 'unreal' can be somehow echoed in Chen's photography. Day after day in the dim-lit room, immersing himself into memory and imagination, with his thoughts drifting between light and shadows, life in New Haven for Chen Ronghui was to be a testimony of 'everything as unreal as real can be'.
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Inspired by the poem of the same name written in 1949 by American modernist poet Wallace Stevens, Chen Ronghui's 'An Ordinary Evening in New Haven' is a narrative about light and memory, and an exploration of the night and state of mind.
In 2019, Chen Ronghui left his homeland, where he had lived for 30 years, for his enrollment at Yale University in New Haven, U.S. When he first arrived in the city, he was concerned about nighttime security in the local area. After a long day at school or at his studio, he would jog back to his rented apartment while constantly praying for his safety on the way. His shortness of breath and permeating anxiety upon getting home usually resulted in him directly sinking into the sofa without even turning on the lights. It was exactly in this moment of tranquility that the street lights quietly passed through his window, with elegant and shimmering gleams casting the dim walls鈥攁ttaching a sense of aesthetic to the bleak shadows in the room. Such a scene of great charm seemed to appear only in Chen's childhood memory: living with his grandparents in the countryside of Zhejiang Province, the young Chen was full of curiosity about nature in darkness. As their thrifty lifestyle made his grandparents reluctant to turn on the lights when night fell, Chen would lean against the window, with the quiet moonlight and flickering fireflies enlightening his path through exploring the world of the surroundings.
In Wallace Stevens' 'An Ordinary Evening in New Haven', his seemingly endless meditation on the 'real' and 'unreal' can be somehow echoed in Chen's photography. Day after day in the dim-lit room, immersing himself into memory and imagination, with his thoughts drifting between light and shadows, life in New Haven for Chen Ronghui was to be a testimony of 'everything as unreal as real can be'.
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