We are not Alone

作品賞析

In her childhood, the artist Lee Yi Hsuan, who comes from a farming family, would always run and jump in the fields, so she has always felt an attachment to the land. In her We are not alone, she used a technique akin to film montage to assemble “mental images of home.” The hexagonal picture frame represents the shape of the window of imagination, and because of her nostalgic longing for her home, the elements of the scenery make up the distant hometown that remains in her heart. Low houses on the hills and a pastoral landscape are spread below, and above there are clouds, as well as eaves as seen from a different perspective. At the center, plants from her father’s field are connected to one another, while behind them is a round window—these become the visual focus. On closer inspection, however, each leaf is actually far from the land, floating in the air, blown away by the wind. The looming square at the bottom of the painting suggests the corner of a diary recording the artist’s life. In sum, this work records not only scenes from the daily lives of Lee Yi Hsuan’s family members, but also her deepest thoughts about her home.