Afterwards

《之後》Afterwards 台北 (2024)

The Age of Endless Sadness

An Age of Erratic Beliefs

We live in an era of polarized values between democratic ideals and iron-fisted authoritarianism. People increasingly align themselves with political ideologies in conflict with their core beliefs. The pendulum swings left and right, never settling in the center.

An Age of Regional Turmoil

Endless cries from wounded soldiers echo among the heated disputes at economic summits. Battle cries resound, fighting for the impoverished, for power, and for the noble.

An Age of Moral Decay

False information masquerades as truth, failing to conceal the greed inherent in human nature. Greed for gold, for silver, and even more so for wealth itself.

An Age of Growing Wealth Disparity

Human goodness is gone. As the gap between social classes increases, generational rifts and misunderstanding erupt within the home.

An Age of Artificial Intelligence

An AI future is increasingly out of sync with human-centric values and the purported microchip renaissance is not to be trusted. Personal data security is dictated by policy set by industry and the government. Speed, satisfaction, desire. Infinite sadness will become the greatest common factor of humanity.

Wind remains unseen, its silent presence unnoticed in the absence of a storm.

Scenery, overlooked by the mind, is omnipresent.

Viewing the land, a heartwarming story awakens my absentmindedness.

Landscape photography is simple for me because I am immersed in it. With compassion, I appreciate the thoughtfulness that people have devoted to the small, intimate corners of their lives as I move closer to a subject and focus a bit more. In a larger environment, I create a longer distance between myself and single subjects, such as a mountaintop, allowing my heart and eyes to perceive the vastness of the natural world.

I once heard a novelist say, “People feel estranged due to excessive closeness; with distance, because of longing, the heart feels closer.” The active movement of shooting must imitate prose, alternating between near and far, to pull the heart forward.

While most landscape photography depends upon photographers traveling to and seeking out extraordinary scenes, my images are discovered during casual walks.

‘Afterwards’ Artist Statement

My new work, ‘Afterwards’, explores themes of daily life. I have purposefully avoided photographing momentous occasions such as birthdays, graduations, and weddings, to minimize the prominence of any one individual. Ordinary moments blur subtle lines between the image, the audience, and the photographer, rendering them even more indistinct.

Bypassing nostalgic representations of culturally historic old streets and antiques, my lens rejects what words can illustrate more precisely.

From a spontaneous perspective, the camera maximizes information within the frame,

translating intricate and rich detail that mimics how our eyes perceive the real world.

Black/White: The Philosophical Translation of Images

The vivid and richly detailed color images in ‘Afterwards’ signify a longing for an advanced high-tech society in the future. The de-saturated black-and-white images aim to reduce the photorealistic impression of the photographic process. The black-and-white images represent reality but challenge the tonal aesthetic of traditional film-based photography. Overall contrast is softened in the black- and-white images, highlights are intentionally overexposed, focus is softened, and a dizzying sense of motion is created which diminishes a connection with reality.

In ‘Afterwards,’ the recurring profile of a person’s back subtly narrates thedark stories and politically obscured events hidden behind the subjects, through seemingly tranquil images. Scattered throughout the series, small black squares, representing the smallest units in digital technology, illustrate the relentless pressure of artificial intelligence “machines and computer people" and the imminent threats from cybercrime and cyberwarfare. A nightmarish scenario.

Opening ‘Afterwards’

Color and black-and-white images intermingle, where reality and illusion coexist. The color images, symbolizing brightness, positivity, and an ideal state, are not confined to a single hue or subject. They are brimming with rich visual information, full of textural depth, and possess an endless visual rhythm that flows through time. The everyday black-and-white scenes expose the uncontrollable, fleeting changes of reality, revealing the contradictions and regrets of past ideals that no longer exist.

Flipping through ‘Afterwards'

Fingers cut by paper, overwhelmed and saddened by pervasive false information. Misty, tearless eyes fail to remember the sensations evoked by the real world. Amid the black-and-white remnants of the front and back pages, time flows, silence is reversed, panic is diluted, and memories begin to emerge from the depths of the heart.

Closing ‘Afterwards'

Solitary beliefs are constrained by the powerless veins of society.

A weary mind struggles to grasp the impact of artificial intelligence on the future.

Turn away, which direction should I look?

Motionless, unwilling to move, it is the realization of an inability to move.

Turning Away

A woman, dressed in casual shoes and white blouse, leans over the glass counter of a watch shop owner and says, “Boss, this is a 20-year-old wedding anniversary watch. Can you replace the strap with American alligator leather then see if it can run for another 20 years?”

That summer, our family biked along Taiwan's east coast. On a steep slope, my younger son stopped, turned his back to us, and nodded to two nearby Taiwanese water buffalo, saying hello.

After the ritual, Jigong took off his Daoist robe, put on blue and white slippers, and walked into the temple under renovation. With his hands crossed behindhis back, he counted the gods he could see and those he couldn't: Guanyin,Lü Dongbin, Mazu, Jade Emperor, Dongyue Great Emperor, Xuantian Shangdi, Heavenly Mother, Shennong Great Emperor, Baosheng Dadi, Three Mountain Kings, Water Immortal Honoured King, Kaizhang Shengwang, Guangze Zunwang, Linshui Lady, Five Manifestations Great Emperor, Central Altar Marshal, Lords, General of the Masses, Righteous People, City God, God of Wealth, Kitchen God, Wenchang Emperor, and Kui Star...

On the platform heading to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, my wife, draped in a white short coat, leans against a large steel pillar with her arms crossed. The two brothers, avoiding eye contact, pause their conversation. Facing away from the direction of the incoming train, the three of them formed a triangle of familial space, each lost in our own thoughts, quietly awaiting the sound of the approaching train.

〈白黑之間〉black or white (p. 4-7)