TOXIC THROAT
Materials: Cigarette pack, shoebox, cotton thread, iPad
Dimensions: 60” x 60” x 138”
Year: 2022
Concept Statement:
Toxic Throat is a mixed-media installation that weaves together sculpture, photography, video, and original sound to confront the slow-brewing toxicity of contemporary human society. The work explores fragility and collapse—both individual and collective—through an allegorical structure that teeters between resilience and ruin. Created in 2022, amid the chaos of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the lingering disorientation of a post-pandemic world, the project channels a visceral unease from both global and intimate perspectives.
A cluster of creatures once lived within a towering structure—majestic, yet perilously fragile. It stood only because they tended to it, together.
Then, for reasons small and senseless, someone struck its heart.
The structure faltered. It crumbled. And its fall carried every soul down with it.
Below, a churning sea of white foam surged upward, eager to devour it all.
But it wasn’t too late—not yet.
In the wreckage, the survivors gathered. As they searched for the cause, they came to a quiet, brutal truth:
The ones who had destroyed the tower… were themselves.
Director & Artist: Song Rao
Cinematography: Cassie Zhang
Music: Julian GX Wang