When we recall, what images are we recalling?

Images are categorized based on various functions, including news reporting, product advertising, family snapshots, fashion photography, and more. However, within these categories, there seems to be a particular kind of image that possesses timeless qualities, regardless of how often it is replayed—it never becomes outdated. This type of imagery is pornography, and it exists within our collective memory of this era, often regarded as non-sacred, and a private memory not openly shared.

With the rise of the internet, these pornographic videos have become readily accessible. If the essence of photography is to peer into the world through rectangular pictures and document it, then in a society where pornography is considered taboo, we peer into the bodies of others through rectangular screens by watching pirated videos.

In this project, I rediscovered some low-quality Japanese AV films from the early 2000s, then extracted frames and used artificial intelligence to enlarge less significant details. As I observed pixels (= information) that once did not exist being computationally generated by the computer, it felt as the collective memory, after AI analysis, was filling the void in my increasingly blurred personal memories. Still images or extracted frames may perhaps be closer to the essence of memory. This process feels like a secret visit to memory, followed by a formal farewell.

In an era where even mosaics can be reversed, these images, known as "Yellow videos" in China, are gradually losing their details in my memory. When the images initially intended for adult entertainment lose their details, what remains? Perhaps people can no longer recall the faces of the actors or the specific plotlines; all that may linger in memory are some weary, melancholic and anonymous bodies.