Today, Tomorrow, and the Tales from the Wind 今天、明日和风中故事
Photography, Sound, and Performance
2023 - Ongoing
Today, Tomorrow, and the Tales from the Wind is a long-term interdisciplinary exploration of reimagining human nature’s paralleled phenomena and the nomadic search for a sense of homeland, through photography, vocal-sonic experiments and photo-sound performances.
Photography Series: A Fable for a Questioning Tomorrow
The photographic series in this project uses double exposure and layered photographs to intertwine scenes from the Nordic regions and China, merging photographs from the artist’s hometown in China with those taken during their relocation in Finland and Iceland, recomposing the nature landscapes and the “artificial illuminations” as metaphors, to reimagine a utopian fairyland where drifters find home and human-nature coexistence thrives.
Inspired by local stories, cultural heritage, and mythology, the images reimagine a “fragile utopia” as "patchy landscapes," offering a fable for a questioning tomorrow. Initially rooted in the artist’s grief over the loss of forests in their homeland and ecological degradation, the project has evolved into a nomadic narrative through field trips and artist residencies across the Nordic regions.
The Demonstration of the Overlaying Process
Sonic and Vocal Experiment: An Album of Truth and Illusion
Drawing from Li's synesthesia, the sound works as a sonic-vocal album adding a rich layer to the imagined utopian world of this project. Revolving around the core of the project: the “fragile utopia” of human and nature, Li’s vocal experiments simulate natural movements and social landscapes with a vocal range beyond four octaves, telling tales of truth and illusion through photography, voice, and imagination, extending photographic art into a multi-sensory expression.
Click the Image to preview the Sonic-vocal Album “Today, Tomorrow, and the Tales from the Wind”
Exhibitions, Installations, and Concerts
Through the interplay of photography, sound, and imagination, the project expands the boundaries of traditional photographic art into a multi-sensory narrative. It interrogates the fragile ties between humans and the environment, grappling with themes of migration, ecological crisis, and cultural belonging.
It has been presented internationally as exhibitions, installations, and audiovisual concerts, including Northern Photographic Centre (Solo, FI, 2024), Contemporary Image Museum (CN), Kotka Art Biennale (FI), Helsinki City Museum (FI), M. Žilinskas Art Museum (LT), Photometria International Photography Festival (GR), Skissernas Museum (SE), Helsinki International Artist Programme (FI), Design Museum of Barcelona (ES), Myymälä2 Gallery (FI), Stockholm Fringe Festival (SE), Outsider Art Festival (FI), and Kulturhus Cyklopen (SE), and featured in Der Greif during Paris Photo 2024.
Tianjun Li: Today, Tomorrrow, and the Tales from the Wind, Photo North-Northern Photographic Centre (FI), 2024Tianjun Li: Today, Tomorrrow, and the Tales from the Wind, Photo North-Northern Photographic Centre (FI), 2024
Fotobus Slide Show, During Paris Photo 2024, Paris
Photography - Sound Performance
A Whale’s Sympathy, Performance, Reykjavík, Iceland, 2023
Photo- Sound Artist Book, 2024
Artist Statement about the Project
Tianjun Li, 2024
This project, which began in 2023, represents my ongoing interdisplinary exploration of photograph and sound. It includes a photography series, a sound art album, video works, and live performances. Beyond exhibitions, the project has been presented as visual concerts and in the form of an artist book and record. It started from my reflections on the deforestation happening both in my homeland and Finland, as well as an exploration of the interconnectedness between humans and nature. Over time, it expanded into a broader contemplation of the search for home, deeply influenced by my experiences of living in Finland and Iceland after leaving home.
In the photography series, I treat images as signals, sent back and forth between my current home and the place I left behind. I recompose photographs taken in my homeland with those captured during my stays in Finland and Iceland, re-composing them together in a way that reimagines a utopian world of dreams, hope, and human nature co-existence. Through double exposure, I merge the light of my hometown’s lighthouse with Iceland’s canyons; the city lights of my homeland encircle a boy standing in a Finnish forest; trees from my homeland are transplanted into Icelandic landscapes, barren due to deforestation and climate change, and other various photographic elements that are connected in hidden but delicate manners. The documentary nature of the images transforms into a space for imagined realities.
In this project, I also began exploring sound and the human voice. As a synesthete, I naturally see images in sound. The project culminated in a music album that serves as a soundtrack to the photography series. Using my own vocal experiments, field recordings from Iceland and Finland, as well as recordings from my homeland, I reassembled these elements to create a wordless soundscape that reflects themes of migration, self-exploration, and coexisting with nature, as well as the search for the meaning of home. When we return to being creatures—just humans—the wordless voice carries the power of speech.