Dawé
GuoXu
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Dawé’s creative practice is deeply shaped by his childhood memories and the visual and spatial transformations brought about by accelerated modern development. In his hometown, unfinished buildings, repeatedly redeveloped land, and the remnants of disappearing industries form a landscape left behind by time. These architectural ruins are not only the outcome of urban expansion, but also the physical manifestations of his early memories.
Growing up within an environment of constant acceleration, Dawe witnessed continuous cycles of replacement, reconstruction, and erasure. Familiar urban scenes from his childhood gradually dissolved, remaining only as fragments and structures that hold the intersection of personal memory and collective history.
Part of his photographic work is informed by interviews with twenty elderly individuals who lived through China’s industrialisation era. Through image-making, Dawe seeks to surface individual experiences often overlooked by dominant narratives of progress. Oral histories, fragmented memories, and contemporary sites are placed side by side, forming a visual reflection on the industrial age and its lingering aftermath. These works also incorporate a re-creation and re-imagination of his own childhood recollections.
Dawé studied Fashion Design at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand. Working across fashion and textiles, he draws upon blurred memory and material presence to explore relationships between time, the body, and materiality. His understanding of sustainability extends beyond material choice or final outcomes; instead, he views creative practice as a means of continuing what is at risk of being forgotten, allowing overlooked stories, spaces, and values to persist within a contemporary context.