An isolated chapter (odd, even)
2013
etching ink on paper
15 x 15 cm, 425 prints

Scroll: 2 pieces
23 x 3200 cm each
copper plate: 35 x 35 x 5 cm framed

I have nothing to tell you

I am writing a love letter to you, just like all lovers do. But I have nothing to tell you. I just want to keep you in my mind; in order not to forget you and reminding myself the existence of you. It is impossible for me not to forget about you as time goes by. It is inevitable that you will be disappearing from my mind, but I will try to keep you in mind, so I will think of you more often.

You shadow keep showing up; from time to time, day by day. Your appearance is not eternal; you will fade out gradually. You are wandering in the paradox of existence and disappearance.

In the paradox of existence and disappearance

It seems like that there is a conflict between existing and disappearing. It seems like that they are contradicting each other. Every existence implies death, for which death is the final destination for every existence.

The approaching of death awakes the awareness of being. If our existence has no limitation, it will be transgressing the law of life.

將銅版印一次，打磨一次，印一次，打磨一次，印一次，直至銅版被我打磨至光滑，所有痕跡消失掉。它回到起點。
Printed and polished, printed and polished, printed and polished…until all the traces disappeared. The plate went back to its starting point, smooth and shiny.

生與死的同時存在.

My work is thriving from the paradox of existence and disappearance. The form in which my work started is the form in which it will end. From emptiness emerges my creation; after enduring the exhaustion for defining existence, emptiness once again returns. Life is a circle, and this circle will not be complete if it is not returning (death) to the original form. 

『四組版印的作品顯現駐澳門藝術家黃麗茵對生命的入微觀察。 黃氏的銅版畫由簡單的幾何形狀組成，紀錄著時間的流逝。「斷章」，也就是展覽名稱的由來，是一幅三米乘以三米的裝置，由425幅如出一轍的銅印版畫所組成。經過辛勞的工序 – 墨印、擠壓與拋光，銅片上的刻紋慢慢地變得平滑，紙上的圖案並隨著每一次的壓印漸漸淡化。

這種懇切的創作手法在某層次上是藝術家的自我訓練，重複的動作為冥想設下步伐。版畫中的細微差別與持續變遷的世事相互見証和呼應；圖案的逐步消失卻矛盾地成為「存在」的一項提示。這個領悟亦呼應著黃氏對浮生的浪漫觀。黃氏完成的作品既是一系列對生活的體驗，也是一份充滿詩意的永恆展示。她的作品創造另類空間，讓觀眾停下來思考。』

摘自 《斷章﹣黄麗茵個人展 》新聞稿，香港安全口畫廊

“The works offer Cam Wong’s detailed observations on life. Her etchings, composed of simple geometric shapes, document the passing of time. “An isolated chapter”, from which the exhibition takes its name, is a 3 by 3 metre installation of 425 seemingly identical prints made from a single copper plate. Through an arduous routine of inking, pressing and buffing, the pattern on paper fades with every impression as the sunken lines on metal gradually meld into a smooth plane.

This earnest approach is in part a form of self-training for the artist as the repetitiveness sets pace for meditation. With the imminence of disappearance, the changing state in the prints attests to the subtle differences of events in time, and brings about a paradoxical awareness of being. The consciousness of such echoes Wong’s romanticised vision of the transient nature of life. The resulting constellation is both a sequence of experience and a poetic display of timelessness. Her works create alternative spaces, allowing viewers to stop and ponder.”

Text from the press release of “ An isolated chapter- Cam Wong solo exhibition”, Gallery Exit