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The Ground of Memory

Jialin Sun

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Jialin Sun (b.2003, China) is an artist based in London and Shandong. He specialises in combining photography with multimedia installations, especially projections, sculptures and publications.

His practice centres on the interplay between personal memory, collective identity, and the subtle undercurrents shaping everyday experiences. He approaches art-making as a means to investigate how mundane gestures and fleeting thoughts can reveal deeper cultural and emotional truths. By weaving together found objects, archival imagery, and immersive installations, he aims to create contemplative spaces that invite viewers to reflect and connect with their inner narratives. Each piece becomes an invitation to engage with ambiguity, encouraging audiences to interpret, question, and redefine the boundaries between self and society. Through these layered explorations, the artist seeks to highlight how perception can shift and expand when individuals embrace the complexities of human experience.

Jialin Sun (b.2003, China) is an artist based in London and Shandong. He specialises in combining...

The Ground of Memory is a multi-disciplinary project incorporating photography, sculpture, collage and text. It explores the notions of historical a priori, inheritance, and shaping.

Based on his grandfather's experiences during a hidden and unspeakable period of history, Jialin Sun uses collected materials, forged texts, archives, and photographic collages to create an intentionally biased and fragmented narrative. By combining real elements with imaginative fiction, this multimedia approach critically examines the reliability and dissemination of inherited stories.

Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Michel Foucault’s notion of the “historical a priori” (via Charles Merewether) and Allan Sekula’s critique of photographic discourse, the work reflects on how history is fragmented, conditional, and mediated by power. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic writings further influence the approach to memory as subjective and shaped by trauma.

Ultimately, this project encourages viewers to think about and question how the narratives we inherit are conditioned by the political ideology of the time, and circulated in discreet ways that shape us.

Final work

A digitally collaged image set against a deep red background. In the foreground, a stylized illustration of a man and woman—drawn in the style of mid-

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A stylized portrait of a young person in a red military-style uniform and black wide-brimmed hat, holding a rifle across their chest.

Framed Print

Framed Print

100cm× 59.5cm

Archival Pigment Print / Matt FineArt Paper

Black smooth frame with Anti-reflective glass

A pair of white-gloved hands carefully holds the skull of a crested ibis against a plain white background.

Crested Ibis Skull Sculpture

25cm×4.3cm×7.8cm

Resin casting / Hand Painted

The crested ibis is one of the rarest birds in the world. It has a unique place in the culture of countries such as China and Japan. In China, it is called ‘吉祥之鸟’, a symbol of good luck and festivity. The number of crested ibises plummeted in the 1960s, and no one has seen them in China since 1964. By January 1981, the Japanese crested ibis was considered the last surviving crested ibis in the world, and the capture of the only five remaining wild Japanese crested ibises marked the crested ibis was extinct in the wild. However, in May of the same year, scientists rediscovered the crested ibis in China. The last 7 wild crested ibises. No one knows what they have experienced in the past 17 years...

As the part of the Project ‘The Ground of Memory’

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The Ground of Memory

The Ground of Memory is a multi-disciplinary project incorporating photography, sculpture, collage and text. It explores the notions of historical a priori, inheritance, and shaping.Based on his grandfather's experiences during a hidden and unspeakable period of history...

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