The Memory of Trees

The Fugue of the Withered Tree is a famous work by Yu Xin, a writer during the North and South Dynasties in China. In the text, the ancient tree is regarded as an animal or a person, comparing the tree with objects and borrowing the tree as a metaphor for human beings, which expresses the author’s sentimental feeling of missing his homeland and having an uncertain destiny. The expression of hieroglyphic viewing and empathetic metaphor is different from the objective and direct concept of modern photography, which is a unique way for ancient people to view the world and reflect themselves. “The Memory of Trees” explores ancient trees in China, planted from the Northern Wei dynasty 1500 years ago to the Ming dynasty 600 years ago. Crafted through prolonged nighttime exposure, the project involved experimenting with a pictographic approach. Each tree resembles creatures described in the Fugue of the Withered Tree — some like dragons, some like phoenixes, and some like humans. While pictorial photography and symbolic observation aren’t mainstream in contemporary Western photography, rooted in Eastern culture, I chose to temporarily diverge and experiment with a non-scientific approach. Under the profound night sky, it feels as if I’ve pierced the fog of time and space, witnessing the spirits these ancient trees have accumulated over millennia. Ancient trees linked to the past and the future, rather than people looking at trees, rather than trees looking at people. They have stood firm for thousands of years, reading through the prosperity of the wind and frost, for our story, as if they already know, all know.