We live on Borrowed Time

作品賞析

In this work,  We Live on Borrowed Time, artist Lu Chih-Yun used mirrors that she repolished to leave only finely fragmented mirror surfaces, so that the surface of the work is both transparent and partly reflective of the real world. When viewed from a distance, the mirror surface will reflect surrounding colors, and you will be able to see the staghorn ferns painted on the mirror surface. As you approach it, you will see your own image reflected—your relationship with the mirror will become clear—so the viewing experience mixes the virtual and the real. Because fern spores must land in the right environment quickly in order to germinate, the staghorn fern is a metaphor for people’s dependency on the environment, whether natural or social. As the work will seem to change depending on the viewing angle, distance, and lighting, it expresses the artist’s idea that “life mingles with the artificial and the natural.”