What drew me to create this work:

The ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict and its ripple effects in the world seem to embody all the essential traits that 'Hortus Conclusus 寓形於兩間' explores, particularly border and duality:

Evil—Good 惡––善

Lie—Truth 假––真

Strength––Weakness 強––弱

Perpetrator—Victim 加害者––受害者

Terrorist—Hero 恐怖份子––英雄

Crime—Innocence 罪––清白

Crisis—Opportunity 危機––轉機

Despair—Hope 絕望––希望

Real––Ideal 現實––理想

Divide and conquer—Cooperate and harmonise 分而治之––和諧共處

Might—Right 強權––正義

Impunity––Punishment 免責––懲罰

Death—Life 死––生

Past––Future 過去––未來

One causes the other, one becomes the other, one is the other.

彼出於是，是亦因彼。 彼是方生, 方生方死，方死方生；方可方不可，方不可方可。是亦彼也， 彼亦是也。彼亦一是非，此亦一是非。是非反覆，相尋無窮。

Nov. 11, 2023

Armistice Day. The largest Pro-Palestine protest erupted in London.

People in the streets chanted:

“Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry, we will never let you die!”

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Chanting the first line was difficult for me, knowing that people in Gaza were/are dying.

A member of the press posed the “No. 1 question”: “Do you condemn Hamas?”… Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Here, a war on narrative and rhetoric –– there, a war on life.

Why is a deceased child in Palestine not called a “war victim” but a “martyr”? The answer seems to be that the little ones are dying, by hundreds – by thousands – by tens of... so that people worldwide, tens, hundreds of thousands – millions – tens, hundreds of millions, would have to demand the liberation of Palestine.

The harsher the oppression, the stronger the resistance.

Vengeance begets vengeance…The solution to a hopeless situation might just be hope.

Persevere, Palestine. Persevere! The tide will turn.

Nov. 24, 2023

A "humanitarian pause" begins today in Gaza.

I’m working on the right panel—the Israeli side: 

a）insecurity; b）the struggle of borders

One could argue that the primary concern or value surpassing all others in Israel is “security.” However, their security-driven policies have made every neighbour of Israel—Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt—insecure, leading to increased hostility towards Israel. This, in turn, further jeopardises Israeli security. Israel's border becomes the Arab nations’ “unified front,” while Al-Aqsa, the symbol of Islam, is besieged by Israel.

Borders delineate a people and a land. They give rise to existence as well as conflict.

Dec. 3, 2023

Bombing resumed, claiming the lives of over 700 civilians in Gaza within the last 24 hours.

W. H. Auden wrote in his poem, ‘September 1, 1939’:

“Those to whom evil is done

Do evil in return.”

If this is true, how is it that an Israeli grandmother-hostage shook hands with her captor upon release, and told the world, “…in the web-like tunnels, they treated us well…we ate what they ate”? Furthermore, why is it that many individuals who have informed me about the lesser-known sides of this conflict, providing context, structure, history, and humanity, are either Holocaust survivors, their descendants, Israelis, or of Jewish origin –– figures like Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappé, Norman Finkelstein, Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer (of Jewish origin?), Max Blumenthal, Gabor & Aaron Maté, Gideon Levy, Omer Bartov, Daniel Levy, and more? I deeply admire their integrity, intelligence, passion, and compassion.