The works of Chinese artist, Song Dong, focus on the emotional power of  seemingly small gestures and things. His 2009 installation piece at MOMA was both beautiful and riveting. Here is the museum’s description of the work:

“Beijing-based artist Song Dong (b. 1966) explores notions of transience and impermanence with installations that combine aspects of performance, video, photography, and sculpture. Projects 90, his first solo U.S. museum show, presents his recent work Waste Not. A collaboration first conceived of with the artist’s mother, the installation consists of the complete contents of her home, amassed over fifty years during which the Chinese concept of wu jin qi yong, or “waste not,” was a prerequisite for survival. The assembled materials, ranging from pots and basins to blankets, oil flasks, and legless dolls, form a miniature cityscape that viewers can navigate around and through.”

A short video on the museum’s webpage for the project records the process of the installation.

The project offers no information about the artist’s mother other than what the viewer might choose to deduce from her possessions, but it creates a powerful sense of her presence. Each item carries deep meaning for the artist, and we are moved through our identification with him. Important people who pass from our lives continue to exist in the objects they touched, or so it seems.