EVA RESPINI: Ji Weiju and Song Tao have been working collaboratively since 2004 under the collective identity Birdhead. They created this large grid of photographs chronicling everyday life in their city. Through a translator, they described their process.
BIRDHEAD: 答：拍摄照片，看到自己拍摄的照片，然后再去拍摄，然后编辑它们，然后再去拍摄，我们如此反复循环着，这过程对我们来言是一个不断寻找，确认，不断累积，添加的过程。
Taking photos, seeing the photos [we] took and then going out there to take more pictures, then editing those and then going out to take even more pictures… This is a cycle that we continually repeat, and this process is a constant one of seeking, confirmation, and ongoing accumulation and addition.
EVA RESPINI: This installation includes images of natural elements found in the urban environment.
BIRDHEAD: 答：是的，自然。我们的确在最近的工作中更加在意这个词在我们拍摄中的体现，我们慢慢地发觉在中国的传统中对自然的理解，从模仿自然通向崇敬自然，我们尝试拍摄这个城市中的自然，那些遵循传统模仿自然的自然，或者现代化城市中必需的绿化，这一系列的拍摄可以看做是鸟头的模仿自然之路。
…We gradually discovered the understanding of nature in the Chinese tradition, moving from imitating nature to respecting nature. We tried to photograph nature in this city - at first, we conformed to tradition and imitated nature in natural settings or the necessary greening in modern cities. This series of [photographs] may be seen as Birdhead’s journey of imitating nature.
EVA RESPINI: Hanging on top of the photographs are two vertical panels that depict lines from ancient Chinese poetry. Birdhead photographed Chinese characters throughout Shanghai – in subways stations, on billboards and advertisements – and combined them to spell out a verse from a poem from 207 CE. The poem translates to: And so, with joy in my heart, I hum this song.
BIRDHEAD: 答：把一千多年前两句诗里所用的汉字在当下的生活中找寻出来，拍摄下来，按照原本诗歌的遣词重新装裱起来，从目前的方案而言，这种装有拍摄而成的诗歌的镜框叠加在照片上的形式，在精神上类似于中国传统绘画上的楔子。
We photographed them, and then mounted them in accordance with the original poetic wording.
We are expressing a connection between China’s present and past through Birdhead’s works, supported by rich emotions.