Fotanian Open Studios (4).

 614 ELEPHANT HOUSE 象舍 (Rm 614, Block B, Wah Luen Industrial Centre)

I was fascinated by the installations in the Elephant House, “The Root” and “Sunlight”.

Looking at the shadow of trees always makes me the feel peaceful and serene, especially under the warm sunshine in winter. It is awesome to bring something like that in to an indoor studio.

The artworks of the Elephant House stick to nature, human history and the Chinese calligraphy.

Elephant quotes the words of Confucius on the caption of “The Root”, “…Have the Heavens made speeches? The four seasons turn through their changes, bringing forth countless beings. What words have the Heavens spoken?”

Indeed, our nature has its own language, but we may neglect or forget it. Art can be a bridge to reconnect human and the nature.

Elephant hoped to show the audience the shadow of the root drifting over the floor with time. Last year she demonstrated the pictograph character ‘root’ and the ancients’ habit of ‘talking knot’ through another means. She crashed her calligraphic works of the past year to making an installation of tree roots. Later on, she tried to use paper-cutting and photography to capture the shape of the shadow. Of course we know that every paper cuttings are unique in our common sense. However, visualizing the paper provokes more thought, and you really want to observe them in detail.

When you can find shadow, where you can find light. The papers not only represent shapes of the shadows, together with the sunlight.

Another artwork “Sunlight” is an interactive installation, suggesting audience to write down what makes them happy on a piece of ‘sunlight’, and put it in one of the bottles. The concept is really poetic. I think “The Root” actually is a part of “Sunlight” and “Sunlight” will then become a part of “The Root”… that is no way and no need separate them into two individual works.