The Moon, My Shadow, and I (Triptych)
2025
Darkened and Welded Stainless Steel
(right) 13.7’ H x 4’W x 4’D
(center) 14’H x 4’W x 4’D
(left) 13’H x 4’W x 4’D
Currently installed at the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park
Based on the first stanza of the poem ‘ 月下獨酌 (A drink alone by the moonlight)’ by Chinese poet Li-Bai. Li-Bai is known as one of the most important Chinese poets from the Tang Dynasty, and his poems are an extremely popular choice for children's Chinese language textbooks. I vividly recall reading his poems while learning Chinese as a child - the memory of reciting them with my classmates and enjoying the simplicity of rhyme and rythem is clear as day. However, revisiting this childhood memory and these poems as an adult, I now have a renewed understanding of these poems- of a lingering sense of nostalgia, loneliness and historical importance - thoughts and ideas that are amplified by an echo from my childhood. This sculptural triptych is a portrait of such - bringing past to the present, a materialized form of a deeply rooted personal memory.
花間一壺酒，
獨酌無相親；
舉杯邀明月，
對影成三人。
Amongst the flowers, a bottle and I
I drink alone, with no one near by
I raise my cup to toast the moon
For I realize, there was the moon, my shadow and I.