Li Xiaofei
Ponytail + Chongming Island II
Combined into a single two-channel HD video, Li Xiaofei’s Ponytail and Chongming Island II are silent portraits of the women assembly line workers at a Chinese kitchenware factory. Close-up shots of women’s heads—most notably of the rear with their hair in the similar updo fashion—and faces occupy the frame amidst a backdrop of a revolving steel conveyor. In lieu of dialogue or humming of the machinery, a ringing score of chimes and bells provides a tranquil soundtrack.
This video continues Li Xiaofei’s Assembly Line Project series (ALPS) which he began in 2010. Since then the project has evolved into three phases: the first is a series of interviews with workers of different levels within the assembly line, the second turns attention to the transformation of agricultural-turned-industrial landscapes with muted imagery and ambient sounds, and the third focusing on the dedicated manufacturing of common culinary necessities including oil, salt, soy, and vinegar. Recently, Li subtly reverts back to the individual consumed within the labor supply chain—although the redundant imagery renders one factory like any other, Li points to the very monotonous characteristics, such as the dress code and lockers full of belongings, that unifies (if not romanticizes) the plight and hardship of each individual. This review back to the workers perhaps draws attention to the looming consequences of China-US trade wars of 2018 which threatens not only the balance of global economic powers but also on a micro-level to individual livelihoods in which pay rates and employment are at stake.
Li Xiaofei initiated Assembly Line in 2010, an ongoing project that records industrialized social change not only China, but as it occurs internationally. “Jindu” Gold City, “Yindu” Silver City, “Tongdu” Copper City, and “Niedu” Nickel City are just few of the many cities in China named after the minerals and metals that are mined and produced there. Li Xiaofei travelled across the country to shoot over 100 factories across China, while initiating dialogue and exchange with people of different positions within the assembly line. Through this documentation process, Li Xiaofei explores what lies beyond the orderliness of the assembly line, the capitalist factory, consumer society, social progress and social morals—the reality of people living in a highly systematic and institutionalized environment. He employed a "real time" shooting technique which was difficult to control, combined with the language of documentary and a fragmented interwoven approach to create a mutual restructuring and a transformation of the relationship between man and machine, in essence to reconstruct an illusory reality.