Point of No Return
Janet Biggs, 2013
Single channel HD video with sound
Running time 10:16
Janet Biggs’ video, Point of No Return focuses on individuals in the face of cultural loss or change. To many, cultural extinction is a part of human evolution. Whether through assimilation, globalization, technological advancement, or battle, cultures expand and disappear.
Filmed in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, Biggs documents the rigors of survival for man and beast. Point of No Return examines the loss of a sense of self and way of life in one of the world’s most isolating and harsh location, known as the “Desert of Death”.
Biggs traveled into the Taklamakan desert with eight camels and their Uyghur handlers. She filmed the caravan as it journeyed past ancient sites, some in ruins, others buried under the desert. Set against backgrounds never-ending oceans of dunes and fevered market activity in the ancient (but disappearing) city of Kashgar, Point of No Return reveals the grit, endurance, and desire for a way of life at risk of vanishing into the sands by choices self-made or externally imposed.
