The artwork explores themes of memory, migration, and the interplay between inner and outer worlds. The scene is set in an indoor space adorned with potted plants, everyday objects, and three large cabinets. Each cabinet contains a collection of imagery blending traditional shanshui motifs with contemporary landscapes, symbolising the literati tradition of shanshui as a private expression of personal emotion while alluding to political and social discourses. Images of ships and docks interspersed within evoke feelings of displacement and departure. These elements intertwine to create an intimate, lived-in atmosphere, as if preserving fragments of past moments while concealing personal thoughts and expressions within a private realm.
Perched atop the central cabinet, an oversized cargo ship symbolises imagined migratory journeys, its cargo representing the luggage and possessions of those who depart. Beyond the window, a tranquil sea stretches toward the horizon, where another cargo ship sails serenely, embodying an eternal quest for a sense of belonging. This calm contrasts sharply with two images displayed within the room: a painting of turbulent waves and a photograph capturing a fleeting moment of a storm, together suggesting the coexistence of past upheavals and present serenity, prompting reflection on the passage of time and personal identity.
Outside the window, a half-circle sun crafted from copper foil gleams, its surface transforming through oxidation to reflect the impermanence of the external world. Accompanying it are copper birds, some appearing to fly inward from the outside and others outward from within, blurring the boundaries between reality and the inner world.
