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Third Space:
Queen Of The Night Revisits in the cold
[曇花再現]
Chinese ink and water-based mediums on watercolour paper
The 'Queen of the Night', or 'Tán Huā' [曇花], was my great grandmother's favourite flower. This elegant flower opens once a year, and only at midnight, much to the anticipation of our close neighbours, who would all join in as we watched the flowers' unbelievable displays. "Tán huā yī xiàn" [曇花一現] is a thing, meaning ‘the flower vanishes as soon as it appears’, or that it appears once, briefly, and short-lived. The flower was not native to Singapore, but it felt so to me. Oddly enough, it wasn’t a fairy tale from the beginning. When I was a child, I used to stare in horror, as no fewer than thirteen flowers unfurled all at once, right before my very eyes. I called them “monster flowers”. I never knew plants could move so quickly. As I grew older, the fear dissipated and turned into admiration. It was a strangely beautiful experience watching the ‘Queen of the Night’ bloom in their own time, and realising that the privilege of witnessing such sublimity only belongs to those who are patient and still, and present in those quiet, fleeting moments.
Queen of The Night Revisits In The Cold I
Cropped
Queen of The Night Revisits In The Cold II
140 x 45 cm
Cropped
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