Description
About the Book
It was an unexpected trip, in a place called Norgris Town, where I spent the final days of winter. The Daltons, who had three children, graciously took me in. However, it was the peculiar pre-dinner prayer that stirred my curiosity. After expressing gratitude for trees, crops, and all animals, people would conclude it with one final line –
“The world lies within the belly of a giant serpent.”
Retired teacher Patrick shared with me the town’s history. Back in the 1990s, a meteorite had fallen in Norgris, bearing scales like a snake. Children who touched it were believed to be protected from illness and danger. Patrick strongly believed that the origin of the universe followed a similar pattern: dust gathering into the shape of a serpent, coiling into planets, from which life and civilization were born.
The priest in Norgris would conduct a ceremony before spring arrived, and during those days, supernatural occurrences blurred the lines of my memory. These included seeing indistinct faces outside my window, experiencing intense physical pain, and dreaming of being covered in scales from head to toe.
I never returned to Norgris. Or perhaps Norgris never existed at all. Inside the serpent’s belly was a digestive fluid disguised as “shelter.” For a time, I saw the world penned in, steeped in warm, bitter waters.
Belly of The Giant Serpent: Prophecy is a work concealed beneath the masks of fiction and the supernatural, which metaphorically depicts the author’s life during the 2019-nCoV pandemic, along with the silent accusations that accompanied it. The town the protagonist accidentally steps in is a metaphor of China under the strict lockdown conditions. Through the science-fiction-like short story and generative images operated by AI, the author tries to express the unspeakable but unforgettable personal experience and collective trauma.
About the Artist
Chen Chuanduan (born 1994) uses imagery as a medium, beginning with documentary works rooted in personal emotions and experiences. He focuses on the connection between humans and nature and the cries of modern life. He is fascinated by natural science and mysticism, with a particular penchant for imaginary and fictional elements.
He has independently published photography books titled Restrained Orders, Belly of The Giant Serpent, and Restorative Topophilia. Chen Chuanduan’s work was recognized among the ‘TOP20·2019 Emerging Contemporary Chinese Photographers.’ He has also won the ‘2024 Three Shadows Photography Award (TSPA).’ Moreover, he has held solo exhibitions, including Voice in the Wilderness, Rootless Hymn, This Land Heals Me, and Restrained Orders.
Chen graduated from Beijing Normal University in 2019 with a master’s degree in comparative education. He currently works and lives as educator and visual artist in China.
