Artwork Appreciation
Farewell to the Fox – 15 is one of a series of works by photographer Teng Po-Jen. When interacting with students, he found that his own past was very different from that of young people today, so he began to trace his own memories by photographing them. In this work, a woman with a fox mask over her head stands in the sea. The sky is an even blue, but the sea has a more layered blue from the waves. In the close foreground below, one can see blue lines with different textures—an effect made through different media, trying to capture the sea surface at 6:00 AM moving vividly. A layer of plastic wrap covers the woman’s figure, as if keeping food fresh. In this way, Teng Po-Jen expresses the hope of preserving the freshness of youth, but the waves surrounding her are always being pushed forward and being replaced by the next, as the things of the past are always replaced. All we can do is cherish the present.