作品介绍

作者：王峥

「失落大陆」是艺术家刘默霏一组与众不同的摄影作品。比起艺术家在其他作品中对于家庭，社会，以及自身的关注，这组作品转向人与自然的关系，并通过冬季对于一系列元素，生命，人物，景观的敏感捕捉，讨论了更为深重的话题——比如死亡，时间，客观世界等。与其说这是一组对于自然景物的写实，不如说这是一行对于世界命题的抽象自叙；而这些命题也同样贯穿于艺术家的其他作品，形成了某种呼应。

在这些元素中，水与草木是最重要的部分，这和作者对自身的理解和感受有关——艺术家作为甲木亲木水，对于哲学和宗教中的元素同样在意。但并非仅此，水与草木像血管一般连结著不同区域的景观，将静态引入某种动态的结构；但生命深处其中，水则象征著时间的流动，草木被时间切割，裸露，冻结在象征著死亡的肃杀背景中，给予观察者些许空间反思与沈淀，并会再次流动。

最后，这组作品的名字仿佛也指向了更广阔的传统和地理，让人想起美国「自然摄影」与「自然文学」传统的同时，北美大陆作为被「发现」的「新」大陆，也可以被视作某种「失落的大陆」而存在；同时作为一个「新」大陆的在场者与外来者，这为观察北美社会带来了全新的个人视角。这些影像的碎片不过是拼凑这块大陆的板块和剪影，在观察者的情绪中不断碰撞，移动，组合成新的意涵。所以这种「失落」同样是主观性的，也可以是某种客观的命运，将更悠远的悲怆和孤独指向了人与草木的共同命运——生死轮回。 

Statement

Author: Moham (Zheng) Wang

Lost Island is a distinctive photography series by artist Mona Leau. Unlike the artist's other works that focus on family, society, and self, this series turns to the relationship between humans and nature. Through sensitive captures of a series of elements, life, figures, and landscapes during winter, it engages deeper themes such as death, time, and the objective world. Rather than being a realistic depiction of natural scenery, this series is an abstract self-narrative about universal themes, which also resonate through the artist's other works, forming an echo.

Among these elements, water and plant/wood are the most important parts, relating to the artist's understanding and perception of self—as an individual with a wood and water element in the Chinese philosophy of the Five Elements (Wu Xing), the artist is also attentive to these elements beyond philosophy and religion. However, it is not limited to a natural demonstration of this aspect. Water and plant/wood, like blood vessels, connect different regional landscapes, introducing a dynamic structure into the static; but deep within life, water symbolizes the flow of time, and the plant is cut, exposed, and frozen in a frigid backdrop symbolizing death, offering the observer space for reflection and contemplation, which prepared for the flow again in the spring.

Finally, the title of this series seems to point to broader traditions and geographies, reminding one of the American traditions of "nature photography" and "nature writing." At the same time, the North American continent, as a "new" continent that was "discovered," can also be seen as a "lost island" in a sense. As both a participant and an outsider in this "new" landscape, the artist brings a brand-new personal perspective to observing North American society. These fragments of images are merely piecing together the plates and silhouettes of this continent, constantly colliding, moving, and combining within the observer's emotions, forming new meanings. Therefore, this kind of being "lost" is also subjective and can be seen as “lost” in a certain objective fate, pointing to the common fate of humans and plants— the cycle of life and death.