1940, Deng Nan-Guang Dreams of a Cat
You move past the cat’s dream:
In Taiheichō, an old cat hotel that doesn’t exist,
A sleepy eye opens
Into a half-moon window
You are not its prey
Neither is the rest of the world
A world in the Japanese language
Or in the Chinese language
The cat doesn’t care
The cat only cares about Nan-Guang, oh, light from the South
At the moment the magic aperture turns
The pupils of the cat as well as of the photographer
Brighten up like a time machine
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Courtesy of the Summergate Phototimes
Yangmei/Bayberry Sisters I
Between the territories of sweet potato vine and bamboo
Bayberry sisters survive, like Taiwan
Squatting down, you pose like two flowers on one stem
Before seeding, you had become lovers without fruit
Yes, we do, you said. The fruit is in my nectar
Yes, we do, you said. The fruit is in my brilliance
Mutually dependent like Taiwan, loving one another like Taiwan
Forgetful like Taiwan
It’s not forgotten, you said
As long as my skirt is dampened by autumn rain, you said
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Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images
Yangmei/Bayberry Sisters II
Independent images, bonded spirits
Bayberry sisters don’t raise their eyebrows
With hair tied in different styles
You share the same melancholy
Like mild tides of the Pacific Ocean
You are no longer disturbed
Flowers blossom behind
With the shadow of a peeping cat
On the other side
Tree branches and leaves stretch toward an airport
The shadow of a cat vaguely promises a future
Bayberries turned red, in the Shetzu Creek
Someone sings mountain songs
Different dresses fluttering in the wind
Your identical smiles come from bitterness
The east and the west suggest nothing but the stretching direction of a mountain range
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Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images
1966, I Am Your Mirror
The photographer would never know
There seems to be another you
Behind the mirror
You are putting on the makeup of the White Serpent Goddess
It is another she
In 1624, a lily pond was fantasized
“Put on mourning headwear
With a plain hairpin in my pitch-black hair
Put on a white silk robe…”
You pause your singing at this moment
While she paused at a certain moment of her life
The inseparable lovers…
She is removing her makeup as the butterfly lover
No more eighteen-mile farewell
When your son stretches his hand into the black hole
The reflected image in the mirror is a serpent or
Schrödinger's cat
The photographer would never know
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Note: The woman in the photo, Liao Chiung-Chih, earned her fame playing the White Serpent Goddess. And the actress at the back of the mirror, Betty Loh Ti, was most remembered by her work The Butterfly Lovers.
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Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images
BackBetween Light and Rhyme — Liu Wai Tong
In retrospect, the emergence of photography has not only rewritten humans’ perspectives but also influenced literary writing. Photos can be more than just a window that reflects reality but, at the same time, a space that houses creativity and imagination. Books, a symbol of humans’ thoughts and civilization, started showcasing a new relationship between images and texts, while perspectives of cameras also appeared in works of literature. A Gentle Breeze invites five contemporary writers to step into the viewing of images and the practice of exhibition from the perspective of literature. As texts and images complement each other, the abstract understanding of reading metamorphosizes into sensuous intuition. This process turns both viewing and reading into a unique experience and demonstrates possibilities of dialogue between the history of photography and its connection to memory. Texts, photography, and writing spark the existential meaning of symbiosis, guiding the reading of images towards changing aesthetics. This exhibition section can thus be interpreted as a resonance between photography and literature, revealing the subtlety of human nature and the true meaning of life through the act of writing.
Liu Wai Tong is a poet, critic, and photographer from Hong Kong. He is the recipient of the Youth Literary Awards (Hong Kong), Hong Kong Awards for Chinese Literature, the Literature Awards of China Times (Taiwan), United Daily News Prize (Taiwan), Hong Kong Biennale Awards for Literature, and the 2012 Writer of the Year by Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. Liu Wai Tong lives in Taiwan now.
Liu Wai Tong has published more than ten books of poetry, including Eight Foot Snow Spell, Ghost Whispers, Cherry and King Kong, and A Light That Ever Shone Never Extinguished, among others. His collection of speeches is Roses Bloom Without Causes: 40 Narrow Paths toward Modern Poetry, and his collection of literary criticism is the serial work Dystopia Guide. Liu Wai Tong’s collections of essays include Night Walk in Brocade Robe, Looking for Tsangyang Gyatso and Affectionate Branches. His collection of fiction is War Game in Eighteen Alleys, and his photography albums are Lonely China, Paris Photos de Scène Sans Titre, Looking for Tsangyang Gyatso, and The Darkening Planet, among others.
