Holli Xue (b. 1996, they/them) is a visual storyteller who weaves subtle sentiments into lived reality, collecting evidence for the record of the uncelebrated. Formerly worked as a video journalist and documentary maker, they blend the factual and the imagined, the seen and the unexpressed, examining the construction of narratives from within.
SYNOPSIS
The narrative-led experimental documentary weaves together video recordings spanning five years, merging documented events from pre-pandemic and pandemic-era state control. It incorporates a performance piece responding to the filmmaker's traumatic memories of that period. The performance, a passive counteraction to the hostile environment, expresses fear and
non-cooperation toward the state apparatus. Denied decision-making power and mobility, the filmmaker anchors their existence in both a metaphorical and physical cocoon, as an embodiment
of political depression. This invites the audience to reflect on how an arbitrary capitalist system treats the vulnerable and downhearted, and questions the possibility of an alternative future.
statement
In 2018, I pursued a master’s degree in the UK. The PSW visa, allowing international students a 2-year stay post-graduation, was reinstated the following year. Unfortunately, I couldn't benefit from it, forcing my departure in early 2020 amidst my home country's strict COVID-induced border controls. This journey marked the onset of my stationary existence, trapped between physical borders and my state of mind. I hid away, cocooned and cast adrift, going nowhere. The extreme mobility-restricting policies denied my access to options in life. Only through public outcry and rebellion did I regain access to options. The cocoon is a metaphoric safe space I created for myself, imagining a state of being that’s unbothered, detached, and heading to a transformation.
Returning to the UK in the subsequent year, I held a new visa introduced recently, an escape from trauma and immobility. Yet, within a border system where immigration is a commercial enterprise, how far will this capitalised mobility take me? My cocoon is on the verge of metamorphosis, not knowing what awaits.