“Walk Through” by Mok Pik Ying

Walk Through
by Mok Pik Ying

Someone I know is dying, Someone I know got arrested. Someone I know moved to a foreign country, and I know they will never come back.

I see the smiles on our faces are gone and we might suffer an endless nightmare.

As an art student, I often wonder what I can do, to help us walk along the path, to provide a resting point.

I created this space; there is a long black valley in the middle of the room and it gives space on either side. When you enter, there is a demonstration of origami (摺紙）flowers. I tried to make the flowers look like those of the Bauhinia blakeana—the Hong Kong emblem. People are invited to follow the instructions and make their own. They then put the black flowers in the water and let them fade slowly.

The personal conscious world is represented by the circular plates, and also the flower. The black flowers stand for great sadness, sorrow, disappointment in the heart. As the water tray is placed on the ground, and the flowers are “released”, visitors squat down and then sit beside it.

When you stare at the water trays, the black gradually fades in the water, revealing white, and then slowly disintegrates, the flower turns white. Everything is restored, back to the beginning, but it’s just a piece of white paper, and even melts in the water.

I hope this space will allow Hongkongers who have been scarred in the past to stop here and rest a while. We can sit together, recall the pain and, along with the flowers, bring back the light.

_{How to cite: Mok, Pik Ying. “Walk Through.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 23 Sept. 2020, hkprotesting.com/2020/09/23/walk-through/.}

Mok Pik Ying is an art student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She was born and raised in To Kwa Wan, an old neighbourhood with strong community spirit, representing a less commercial, less materialistic Hong Kong. She has taken part in several art exhibitions in both Hong Kong and mainland China, such as “療傷洞穴”, which was reported on by Stand News. She enjoys mixed media art and community art. She is passionate about exploring different materials, like testing different materials to find new insights with audiences. For more information and more of her art, please visit her website.