Manchurian Snow Walk (completed), 1979

silver gelatin print

61 x 80 cm

MANCHURIAN SNOW WALK
1979


"Young produced ‘Manchurian Snow Walk’ in a forest in Chengchun, China, a site far from the lens of the international art world, bounded by the territory of his cultural origins, notable at that time for it’s intolerance of vanguard art. In his arbitrary paths through the fresh snow, Young left a temporary impression on the landscape in a way suggestive of many site-specific works of the 70s in their rejection of commodification and art’s containment in the gallery. For Young, however, tramping back and forth on frozen Chinese soil from a single point of origin forged a tenuous connection to an estranged cultural base. The work reflected the experience of many in diaspora for whom only repeated episodes of travel and return build understanding of an alienated place of birth."

Dr Carolyn Barnes
2008