Coppe Mirror

Coppe Mirror is a video work created by artist Zheng Jiang in 2018. The historical quarrying of tuff in the Jinyun area left behind many man‐made caverns in the local valleys, formed after stone extraction. These caverns extend hundreds of metres deep and are dim and devoid of light. Over time and through natural weathering, the grottos collapsed, leaving an opening; thus, every evening, sunlight shines through that opening into the interior, illuminating the caves that were originally cut off from daylight. Seeing this, the artist polished a bronze mirror himself. He raised the mirror high with both hands and, through its reflection, directed light onto the cave walls, repeating this until his arms ached and could no longer hold up. Through this repeated action, the flickering yellow patches of light that appear on the stone walls in the footage were produced. In this work, the artist seems to be attempting, through human action and physical strength alone, to illuminate those historical sites that have faded from view or remain long unknown. Moreover, the form and colour of this bronze mirror resonate with the disc installations made of beeswax that hang on the wall in The Longest Way, creating echoes across different moments and practices. This bright, amber‑yellow symbol, resembling the “sun,” triggers and constitutes the artist's various reflections on time and the past.