Shen Xin practices languages of returning, where one imagines, articulates, and creates unhurt spaces of belonging through songs and stories. ས་གཞིི་སྔོོན་པོོ་འགྱུར།[The Earth Turned Green] presents conversations between the artist and their Tibetan language teacher སྐྱིད་དར་འཛོམས།[Skyi Trazomsa] from their classes in which they verbalize the movement of light and color of the four seasons in the process of teaching and learning Tibetan. Shen wrote directions for lighting technician Kyle Gavell to develop a performance for stage lights that would represent a day within each of the four seasons. Shen then transcribed in Mandarin what they saw in the recording of the lights on the stage, which was translated into Tibetan by Skyi Trazomsa, and served as the materials and learning tools for their conversations in Mandarin and Tibetan. Shen began learning the Tibetan language after discovering their family history, particularly of their father Shen Daohong, who practiced Chinese ink paintings and portrayed Tibetan and Indian figures. Having learnt of the father’s Tibetan and Indian heritage, Shen reflected on the potential of kinship for Shen Daohong, and further journeyed to study and to understand the ecological culture of Tibetan language, led by the path of retaining the sustainable in what has been forgotten.
