proust moment

DREAM LABOR PRESS

Dream Labor Press is a self-publishing collective founded by a group of Chinese female graphic designer-authors who are based in the United States and China. Our work focuses on storytelling and fiction-making in the liminal space between places and identities.

By means of zines, artist books and other small publications, we play with objects, symbols and memories. We endeavor to communicate layered narratives that resonate with different walks of audiences and to push the boundaries of design.

CURRENT MEMBERS

Doris Liu
Zia Qian
Lexi Xu
Lihao Zhu
Zhenyu Zhou

FAIRS & EVENTS
Brooklyn Art Book Fair, 2024
Other Islands Book Fair, 2024
打开——Open M Art Fair by abC, 2024
Multiple Formats Art Book Fair, 2024
Press Play by Pioneer Works, 2023
Detroit Art Book Fair, 2023

STOCKISTS
Accent Sisters Studio
MCBA Online Shop

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Email

Lexi Xu
2023

11.25 x 16.5 inch
Newsprint
8 pages

The Proust effect, “an involuntary, sensory-induced, vivid and emotional reliving of events from the past” (van Campen)

We have all experienced the feeling of being suddenly transported back to our pasts. Triggered by a smell, a taste, a sound, or a physical sensation, we relive intense and emotional memories.

I notice those moments from time to time. For example, the smell of laundry detergent reminded me of my grandmother, the taste of hotpot reminded me of life back in undergraduate school, and the sound of people talking on the subway reminded me of high school class break... These unusual moments prompted me to record them into a visual experiment.

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