Yining Mao

Losing language, losing hearing, losing sight, losing feet on the ground, losing oxygen, losing mind, losing histories, losing memories…

We blunder in making the voices heard, we write until it is officially preserved, we interrogate whether there is a last breath to hold, we retrieve it from the moment we forget, we translate when words lose meaning, we rehearse until it finally arrives. Blunt Whistle is a non-linear short film that reenacts and imagines the artist’s grandmother’s experiences of being isolated due to hearing and sight loss caused by cancer. This film touches on the histories that have been forgotten, discarded, or misread. 

Yining Mao is a Chinese visual artist and filmmaker who explores modes of translation between languages, histories, memories, and geographies.