Our everyday reality is in fact filled with invisible energies. We are surrounded by these kinds of energy but we very rarely take notice, probably because they seem so small and insignificant. Such energies, however, are often the main sources of vitality as well as rich and delicate visual imagery. For example, the growth of hair in a day is usually not felt or seen, but the accumulation of its growth would be visible after a period of time. This is invisible energy at work. From the day one is born, such seemingly invisible energy is restored and released in the form of hair growth.

As the energy continues to build, one's hair grows and gets certain intervention just like human life does. From the baby's thin and soft natural hair to the teen greasy hair, or from the close-cropped hair of a soldier to the sophisticated bridal hairdo – at any stage of one's life, the hair keeps telling the story of the person's life; the story-telling only ends upon one's death, which marks the end of the hair growth. Another example is the growth of the plant. We rarely notice it when the plant grows daily into the sun in its natural state; but when a flower blossoms or falls to the ground, it seems that all the energy, usually unseen and neglected, just suddenly bursts with maximum visual effectiveness, before it recedes quietly and with minimal disruption. Despite being unseen and without a definite form, such energies flow quietly around us every second of the day, hidden deep in the fabric of everyday reality. They are not only the essence of life or movement in progress, but also the driving forces behind an endless journey of visual exploration. This project translates the seemingly formless energy into visual imagery. In the images, the abstract lines, which represent trajectories of the energy flows, grow and get cut like a plant. How many times can one change the hair length or hairstyle in a lifetime? Suppose I have my hair cut every two weeks, it would mean that I would normally have my hair cut 24 times in a year. Suppose I live to be 88 years of age, I will have my hair cut in the total of 2,112 times by the time of my death. I suppose the growth of a plant would require at least the same amount of seemingly invisible energy. Central to this project is a combination of abstract elements such as lines, dots, and surfaces, which are the visualization of seemingly invisible flowing energies that can be either large or small, wide or narrow in a physical space. With the help of boundless imagination running through the 3D digital animation, this piece shows the uniqueness and infinite possibilities of existence of human life in space, and how we connect with each other in the midst of changing patterns of these abstract elements.

Courtesy of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts