© Chenxi Shuaichenxis.724@gmail.comInstagram: chenxishh

Dérive

2023
15.5 x 16 in
leaves, plastic weaving bag, black clay paper tape, color pencil
2023
15 x 28 in
leaves, plastic weaving bag,  paper tape, color pencil

I wander the streets of Oaxaca, a town in Mexico, letting my steps drift without purpose. Along the way, I pick up fallen flowers, a plastic bag gathered by the wind and caught in a corner against the wall, a bit of soil—fragments of the town that catch my eye. I walk without purpose, without navigation,  led not by memory or destination, only guided by spontaneous feeling. I follow the impressions each street leaves on me. The things I collect along the way record the path I’ve taken. At the end of each walk, I assemble them into a collage—a journal of each walk.

 My steps are shaped by whatever draws me in: a splash of color, a shift in light, a sudden breeze. Dérive (French for drift, introduced by Guy Debord) is a practice of defamiliarization and a choice of encounters. Debord described the dérive as: “A mode of experimental behavior linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances.”  There’s no fixed route—just a sensitivity to the moment that shapes an emotional map of the urban landscape. 

Index   Next →

Chenxi Shuai


  1. The trajectory of a fly on a couch skin
  2. A seam in my room
  3. Residue
  4. Dérive
  5. In a phantom mood
  6. Untitled
  7. The song of metal burning in water
  8. The skin of skin
  9. Linocuts Zine: Jigsaw Dilemma