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Ze Tian

A woman stares out a window. — Aunty, 2023

A individual lies on a bed, hooked up to a machine. Text on the screen reads, "Dad: Sister, brother-in-law, our eldest sister is going to die soon. Mom: You still feel shortchanged." — 6847 Miles (Short Film), 2023

Water with overlaid text that says, "yet I never thought that one day he wouldn't be here anymore." — 6847 Miles (Short Film), 2023

Ze Tian

Artist Statement

I intended to document the lives of others by street photography. However, living away from my family shifted my observation of others to the question of who I am, specifically who I am to my family in China when I'm living in the U.S. In "6,847 Miles," I reevaluate old familial shifts from a different lens that is not entirely Chinese or American. Delving into the rifts between my aunts, the absence of my uncle, and the fading memories of my youth, the film captures my family members in different emotional states.

Making portraits of landscapes near my home, I present various places that have significance in my narration of the film. Object and domestic spaces don't appear but are spoken about in conversations between myself and my father. Using these conversations almost as symbols, I convey the fragility of the family bonds that have shaped me since my youth.