The Chinese character“Fang”(方) has the meaning of dialect(fang yan), local chronicles(fang zhi), local products(fang wu) or prescription(chu fang). “Grain Rain” is one of the 24 Solar Terms in the Lunar Calendar. It is between 19th and 21st of April while the increase of rainfall benefits the cultivation of corn. “FANG / Grain Rain” is a special art project developed from researching the former site of “Feng Qiao Photo Studio” located in Feng Qiao Town in Zhejiang Province.

“Feng Qiao Photographic Studio” was founded in early 1950s as a collective photo studio after unifying individual private ones, which were opened before the Communist regime. “Feng Qiao Photographic Studio” became a private shop again in 1993. Many locals are still keeping the photos taken over five decades (from the founding of the PRC to the 1990s). These photos became the collective visual memory of most local residents.

Luo Haiming’s mother used to work at the “Feng Qiao Photo Studio”. Qiu Shiming and Luo Haiming went to interview her former colleagues who were mostly retired. There were experienced master workers but also junior generation. The topics of conversation include the history of the photo studio and individual’s life: days as apprentice, change of photo studio’s ownership, requirement of photo at different period, revolution of photo technology and also reminiscence of colleagues. Qiu and Luo put these materials in the documentary film entitled ‘About “Feng Qiao Photographic Studio”’.

The old site of the photo studio is a two-storeys small house built with brick and wood. Other than the tiny shop facing the street, most of the site was abandoned for years. Photographic equipments and background properties covered with dust could be seen under the natural light running through the broken roof. Qiu and Luo removed all things from the filming area and changed part of the interior layout before starting their artistic creation. Inspired by the use of natural light in old photos, the artists installed a dormer for controlling the light during the shooting.

A retired engineer was invited to participate as an actor in this project. Similar to most of the locals, he has been repeating his familiar job at all times. In the old days he always went to have photos taken at the “Feng Qiao Photographic Studio”, where he used to live opposite to. He came back to the old place again but was getting involved in a completely different and new shooting process. The artists took around 20,000 shots of the person’s motion and grouped the photos in sequence as a short film.

The short film, entitled “FANG / Grain Rain”, depicts a person from Huijishan area engaged in agricultural activity. This person writes texts with water and the text have both a close and aloof relationship to agricultural activity. The text become a prescription and appears as local products in a box.

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《方．穀雨》是藝術家裘世明和駱海銘合作在浙江紹興楓橋鎮的老楓橋照相館舊址開展的創作計劃。「方」意指「方言」、「方物」、「方志」，亦有「處方」的含義。「穀雨」為農曆二十四節氣之一，指每年四月十九至廿一日之間，雨水增多而大大有利於穀物生長的日子。

楓橋照相館創立於二十世紀五十年代初，由建國前的多個私營照相館統一改制成鎮上的集體照相館，一九九三年重新開始由私人經營。建國後到上世紀八九十年代半個多世紀裏，很多當地人的相冊裏都保存著楓橋照相館洗印的照片，這些照片已經成為現在楓橋人對過去時光的共同記憶。

駱海銘的母親曾在楓橋照相館工作，原來的同事幾乎都退休了。兩人拜訪了他們，有年長的老師傅，有年輕的晚輩。話題圍繞著老照相館和他們各自的經歷展開：學 徒生活、照相館所有權的轉變、各時期對照片不同的需求、攝影技術的革新和回憶照相館的同事等等。藝術家把這些內容製作成了紀錄片──《談楓橋照相 館……》。

老街上的照相館舊址，是兩層磚木結構的小樓。除臨街的小商鋪外，大部分場地早已荒廢多年。漏瓦瀉下零星光亮，隱約可見堆放著蒙塵的照相器材和佈景道具。在 廢棄的照相館，有多個老攝影棚，裘世明和駱海銘移去了原有的佈景和道具，改變了部分格局，在這些空間開展創作。另外，受到老照片用自然光源拍攝的啟發，安 裝了天窗，通過不斷改變它獲得兩人需要的光線。

一位退休的機械師成為了藝術家的拍攝物件，他和大多數當地人一樣，日復一日地勞動，安靜地從事著自己簡單熟悉的工作。好多年前，他經常在家門口的老楓橋照 相館拍照，這次又來到從前拍照的地方參與藝術家全新的拍攝過程。藝術家拍攝了一個人各種持續行動的照片約兩萬張，這些照片被排列起來形成時而流暢時而停滯 的動畫影像。

影像短片《方．穀雨》說的是會稽山一帶的一個人，在封閉的空間裏，無始無終地做農事，並不時用方言進行書寫。書寫的文字和農事本身有著若即若離的關係，這些文字排列起來是一張處方。穀雨時節，方中事物最終呈現在一處箱子裏。