Purple Thorn

Where is home? Where do I belong to? My heart was drifting on these questions before I started this journey on Kinmen island.

This project began with my fear of war. This emotion came from dreams and also from social media.

When war has become the norm (it has always been the norm, but it is just far away from us), it is necessary to re-examine this small island, Kinmen, that once became a military site during the Chinese civil war, no more than 80 years ago. A place I only heard about from the textbook.

The fear disappeared as soon as I stepped onto the island. When you are alone on an isolated island, the wind on your face, the leaves on your head, and the sand under your feet will teach you the natural order. The smell of war has never disappeared on the island. From plant species to food culture to living space, everything here creates a unique landscape shaped by the remnants of war materials.

This structure of the photo book pays tribute Dung Kai-cheung, the Cantonese writer who has the greatest influence on me. His novel Androgyny - Evolution of a Nonexistent Species has taught me about the subtle relationship between seemingly rational biological onomatology and the fictional ability of human languages.