GuoTongxin 郭童心

Guo Tongxin (郭童心) , an independent filmmaker, electronic sound artist, illustrator, multimedia artist. Currently studying the Master Artistic Research in and through Cinema at the Netherlands Film Academy. Before that, she took a three years master degree in Journalism and Communication at Xiamen University.

Her current art works are always a combination of audio and visual, discussing the illusion of emotions and memories. These works often take the individual perspective as an entry point and are closely related to social issues and humanistic concerns.

past

BA International Business and Trade, Xiamen University Tan Kah Kee College, 2016-2020;
MA Journalism and Communication, Xiamen University, 2020-2023
MA Artistic Research in and through Cinema, Netherlands Film Academy, 2023-present

Short film "The Roses" exhibited at "the non-exist dream" at Zhengzhou, Henan
Short film "The Blue Filter" exhibited at" The Boundless Dream" at Quanzhou, Xiamen
Short Film “Spider” was selected to be the finalist of the MINT Chinese film festival

personal website

INS
https://instagram.com/thereseguo_?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Bandcamp
https://tongxinguo.bandcamp.com/
NetEase Cloud Music https://y.music.163.com/m/artistid=48135856&userid=318092802&app_version=8.6.01
Xiaohongshu
https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/58abdcb050c4b42976772535?xhsshare=CopyLink&appuid=5e2419760000000001009908&apptime=1667219726

A showreel of my sound works till 2022

My music websites:
https://tongxinguo.bandcamp.com/
https://y.music.163.com/m/artist?id=48135856&userid=318092802&app_version=8.6.01

A showreel of my graphic designs till 2022

A showreel of my photographs till 2022

HRSELF 2022
“HERSElF” is a process of self-exploration. The original question is: "Who am I", and I tried to restore the appearance in the connections with friends. But people are always full of filters for each other, gradually my original intention-the further exploration of myself was dispelled by me, and I began to take out the parts of myself, then to reflect and observe myself like I was an object.
By connecting with people and self-reflection, I decided to describe a situation, an emotion, a memory, or a state. I fabricated seven roles and painted them from a fictional painter’s point of view, to capture different identities, states...I built background boards for them, and I made up seven chapters, and seven different types of portraiture. Each chapter is more like a puzzle to be deciphered for the spectator - who is she? Or what exactly is she?In the final presentation, I decided to reposition them in the real context, and insert this narrative into different contexts as an interlude by finding a suitable place.
I took the positions of painter, performer, director, and also music.
‍
HERSELF: paintings and writings

任（Ren）
Ren felt that her teeth were ugly. It was the second day of her breakup. She didn't feel much about being cheated on. She was just sulking that her ex had lost his temper at her in the back seat of the taxi someday. She followed the man on social media before, and she kept checking every girl he followed recently, and they all have gorgeous teeth. She noticed this, and few days later she stopped reading her ex-boyfriend's feed, but began to feel that she her teeth are ugly.But she knew very well that her teeth were actually very neat, and she was just embarrassed by the facial structure problems that her teeth has caused, or hated the little canine tooth that showed when she laughed. The doctor gave her a plan and let her drink porridge for half a month.Later, when the orthodontic treatment was in the final stage, she suddenly realized that the problem was not with her teeth, but with the bridge of her nose, which was not in harmony with her face, or her cheekbones were too wide. She is planning cosmetic surgery and has been browsing social media for reviews and analysis of different procedures. She's a little hesitant about this type of surgery, despite the enthusiasm that social media keeps sending her doctors' cases. After half a month of interviewing, she fell in love with the girl she met at the intersection opposite the hospital. When they kissed, the girl would always rub the tip of her nose gently. Ren didn't think there was anything wrong with her nose afterwards.

洪（Hong）
Hong has a less-than-perfect family background. Her parents divorced when she was three years old, and her memories of her biological father are full of violence, abuse and alcohol, then her mother took her to remarry, however, her stepfather did not care much about her. Although she always gives Hong what she thinks is the best, her mother has is  stubborn and irritable because of the efforts she spends to make a living, which is also the strongest trait Hong inherited from her mother - and of course, the surname Hong. Hong doesn't talk much, but she has the same stubborn temper, the daily conversations with her mother always slide into huge quarrels. The faults belong to both of them.But every time, no matter whether Hong wins or loses, when the hysterical sound disappears from her ears, she feels as if something has subverted her, making her float in a broken boat, lonely and sadness in the dark. Hong doesn't like black.Later, Hong realized that her mother chose to divorce at a time when women were demanding too much—her life had never been easy. She may have forgiven her mother's bad temper, but not by compromising. She gradually retreated from the bad cycle between the two and was finding other ways to cope.But red became a seed in Hong's inner character, which she sees as a symbol of her mother's struggle to come out of a hard life. Red, a bright, extreme but brave color. Intense, and not so healthy. But always a part of her.She took that part bravely and kept fighting the bad side of her character. After all, not every story has a perfect beginning and a perfect ending.

HERSELF: Walking in the city
The street is a public context that is open to people, and every walk on the street is integration and an intrusion into that context, a concept similar to that of a room of one's own, but not identical in its spatial meaning. For me, the street is narrative and storytelling. Its context fits into the logic of my work.
For women, urban walking has a special meaning. The material for HERSELF are taken from women friends of mine whose stories take place in the city, so I wanted to bring the series back to the city, to be around them. For me, presenting the work in the city is a way of making the stories walk in the city.
‍