Spectator
The idea started forming while I was travelling in China last summer. I went to Lijiang, a well known historical town in South China, to look for inspiration in ethnic embroidery and jewellery. As a tourist spot, people come and go, and renovations happen here and there, everything changes too quickly except the sparrows. They stay in the same town generation after generation. They hop around in courtyards lined with worn stone slabs, on wooden roof edges decorated with protective dragons, and in ancient willow trees that have been watching over the town for hundreds of years.
Sparrow is the most commonly seen bird in both China and Canada. It's plain in colour, ordinary in form, average in sound, and goes unnoticed. But in that moment, I felt they were the true spectator of this rapidly changing world. From the time when human feared and worshipped nature, to the time when human understood and utilized nature, the sparrows have been here as unspoken watchers.
Sparrow is the most commonly seen bird in both China and Canada. It's plain in colour, ordinary in form, average in sound, and goes unnoticed. But in that moment, I felt they were the true spectator of this rapidly changing world. From the time when human feared and worshipped nature, to the time when human understood and utilized nature, the sparrows have been here as unspoken watchers.
Copyright © 2016 Fei Su