Set in 2013 Beijing, Cao Fei’s Haze and Fog portrays the lives of people in a perpetually overcast city. Weaving together disconnected scenes of wearied real estate agents, a desperate pregnant woman and her depraved husband, a cleaning lady who steals her employer’s high heels, and an old man with a walking frame, the work displays a clearly divided class system. Despite their social differences, the characters all seem to struggle to cope with their routines, living in a stupefied, trance-like state. In the end, some of the characters transform into zombies—a metaphor for being alive, but dead in spirit—with the urge to devour others. Cao’s dark and poetic images tell a tale of human desire, isolation, environmental pollution, and social disintegration in a rapidly urbanised China.
Cao Fei (born 1978, Guangzhou) graduated from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. She is known for her video, multimedia installation, and Internet work that reflects the rapid and chaotic urbanisation occurring in Chinese society. Cao lives and works in Beijing.