My name is Xun, Zi Xun Dang de Graaf. I am 23 years old and born on the second of June, 2000 in Luoyang, China. At least, that name and date were made-up by the orphanage. In fact I was abandoned and found unidentified at the age around 2,5. What happened before that is quite unknown and will probably remain unknown to me forever. A nostalgic home feeling is hard for me to imagine. To this day, many questions been drifted down a black hole. That black hole is partly my identity. This plays a role in my perspective, actions and greed in life, both consciously and unconsciously. At the age of 3,5 my “parents” adopted me, I love my parents. But somehow, I always felt like a stranger. In order to survive I behaved lost and strange to myself to find meaning. To experience things I didn’t want to, I could choose and believe to feel the things I actually wanted to. Nature and the people I have met when being lost, taught me so. I don't know what I’m searching for or what searching is, but I keep searching because I love it. It's an innocent feeling.
I don’t see adoption as a bad thing, it overcomes. We adopt everything in a way; people, places, feelings, materials, words and even things we don’t realize. But the truth is, from everything we adopt, there is also an opposite. Things we adopt, adopt you too. (What is the behavior of both? What is the meaning of what I adopt? Is adopting finding or stealing? Should what is adopted be changed or customized? Where does what I adopt belong to? For how long do I adopt something?).These questions started my interest in doing research about adoption in art.
For this exhibition I selected my most recent and connected work dedicated to my research. To explain a bit, all materials were found lost in nature, streets or abandoned buildings. The materialen were not customized. I don’t like to buy materials. The procedure of buying has something less meaningful to me. I feel connected to lost objects, because I understand them. The process of finding the materials is temporary and unique. To gather common materials, changes your view of redoing that. It’s a choice. This process represents my practice and the ability to connect the found materials into sculptural works.