Visuals | 視物
in.carnation
Feb, 2021
Tear gas canister from Hong Kong, pink-rose carnation
Inhaling tear gas for the first time was a common experience for many Hong Kong citizens in 2019. According to the official data from the police, from June 2019 to June 30, 2020, more than 16,223 tear gas grenades hit Hong Kong.
The vase is one of those 16-thousand tear gas canisters in response to demonstrations. We do not know how will it ends, I am here to show my highest respect to the deaths who fight for democracy, justice, and peace, in Hong Kong, Burma, and around the world.
Refer to a well-known photo entitled ‘Flower Power’ by Bernie Boston on October 21, 1967, shows a Vietnam War protester placing a carnation into the barrel of an M14 rifle held by a soldier.
Carnation symbolizes eternal grief, love, and loyalty. This flower has long been the flower of mourning. The white carnations signify deep sorrow, combining a powerful symbol of death, sadness, and respect. While flowers give beauty at the funeral, they also symbolize hope for everlasting life.
Existence Not Even in Name | 右左
Nov, 2020
This book combined techniques of western ad eastern book binding. The content is just a sentence of ‘One country, two systems.’ I used the copy machine to keep copying the print outs, play with the idea of data degeneration in order to metaphor the future of the Hong Kong political independence. The book has 50 pages, with index of every ten years; indicating the promise by China government on Sino-British Joint Declaration exists in name only. It is just 23 years since the shift of sovereignty, Hong Kong is no longer having any independent system in economy and legislation. Western style for the coverage while the eastern binding technique applied for the inner pages, it intends to show the status of Hong Kong that the politics just want to use a democracy way to wrap a typical Chinese corrupted political means. And it reads from right to left, symbolize the fortune of Hong Kong is stepping from capitalism to communism.
Underneathe . Beneath . Breathe
Nov, 2020
At the early stage of coronavirus pandemic, while people are still not yet familiar with the behaviour of wearing masks, it was a signature of overreaction. People jumped away from me after noticing I am wearing a mask. *They felt shocked and I felt awkward. When face masks become daily things in Asia, many people among the world are still start to learn how to wear masks correctly. *Frankly and honestly, I witness not-a-few-number of people wearing them inside out, I wondered and hesitated for couple of moments whether tell them or not.
In many parts of the world, coronavirus raised a strong sense of race division and hateful emotion burned the entire Asia. As an asian, I felt really uncomfortable to wear masks on street and felt like I was the only one cares about this precaution. Although we cannot see the faces under the masks, we can still recognise people’s race by shape of the face, height of the noses, hair colour, iris, …etc. There is no way to hide. Vice versa, we can still somehow recognise the races by only the bottom parts of faces.
Exhibited in ‘Link Will Follow’, Nov 2020
Trondheim Open, Norway