SHUM Kwan-yi 沈君怡
Silent Room of Whispered Memories 靜室絮憶
2025, Ink, colour and copper leaf on paper
199 x 294 cm (a set of 3: 199 x 98 cm each)

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, symbolizing 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 symbolizes 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 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.

作品呈現對記憶、遷移以及內外世界相互作用的探索。場景設定於一個室內空間，放置了多盆植物、日常雜物與三個大型櫃子，每個櫃子內收藏了融合傳統山水與當代風景的圖像，象徵文人山水作為個人情感的私密表達，同時隱喻政治與社會的論述。船隻與碼頭的圖像點綴其中，喚起漂泊與離別的情感。這些元素交織出一種親切的生活氛圍，彷彿凝結過往時光的片段，並將個人的思緒與表達隱藏於私密領域之中。

置於中央櫃子上方的一艘尺寸誇張的貨櫃船，象徵著對遷移旅程的想像，貨品就如離去者攜帶的行李與物件。窗外，一片寧靜的海洋向遠方延展，另一艘貨櫃船靜靜航行，猶如對歸屬感的永恆追尋。然而，這份寧靜與室內懸掛的兩幅圖像形成強烈對比：一幅描繪波濤洶湧的畫作與一張捕捉暴風雨瞬息的照片，隱喻過去動盪歲月的沉澱與當下的平靜共存，引發觀者對時間流轉與個人身分的反思。

窗外描繪了一個以銅箔製成的半圓形太陽，其表面因氧化而呈現時光流逝的色澤，映現外部世界的無常與變遷。伴隨其間的銅製鳥兒，有的似從室外飛入，有的似從室內飛出，模糊了現實與內在世界的分界。