He Fa · P4 Theater and Shoot Self with You

Relational Image Theory

The camera records this answer. It is already part of the request.

Beginning with a Photograph

Nine chapters and eighteen images. Read in sequence, or begin with a film passage and return to the book.

Before We Begin
When I film someone, I am often making a request of them too.
Chapter 1 · Starting with a Photograph
A photograph retains a person and brings the person looking at them into the encounter.
Chapter 2 · The Person Who Says “I Love You”
When a sentence enters a performance, is the person speaking still there?
Chapter 3 · Once More
Repetition changes our attention; it can also become a demand.
Chapter 4 · The Body Sets Conditions
Heat, cold, distance and touch are already conditions of being together.
Chapter 5 · Who Can Tell the Director to Leave the Stage?
How a title makes people act, and how they can question it in return.
Chapter 6 · The Camera Separates Us
Framing, sound and editing rearrange who can see what.
Chapter 7 · Behind the White Cloth
A disappearance agreed in advance meets an unexpected answer.
Chapter 8 · How Long Does an Ending Take?
After the performance ends, backstage sounds continue.
Chapter 9 · A Work Cannot Live Someone’s Life for Them
Completing a work cannot complete the lives of the people within it.

Images retain their original proportions. Open an image to view it in full; linked work and article titles lead to their records.