From the beginning of this summer, we have been visiting some places in the Pearl River Delta region to investigate things such as how people use their land, how and what they plant, and what they eat and drink. From my point of view, the city that we live in and the rural areas and farming villages are all connected as one entity. We tend to think we understand these rural areas and farming villages, that they are part of the “known world” to us and that the things happening there can be seen or judged in the most common of ways. However, “things and issues” that are “unknown” can be found hidden in every possible corner of places like this. The relationship between the “known” and the “unknown” world is a really obscure concept in our consciousness. But through contemplation --- contemplating the spots, from different angles and quietly --- we can become perceptive/conscious about of an “unknown” world around us, like having invisible neighbors, and at that point the “known world” could be revealed more clearly. I describe this as an act of awareness (to become aware), a method to realize the “unknownness” in a world we think we know.
-Xu Tan