During his travels, the artist observed the architectural remnants of early Chinese settlers in Southeast Asia including ancestral shrines, temples, and clan associations. In these buildings the craftsmen had stubbornly piled on excessive amounts of Chinese motives and details to emphasise the Chinese ethnicity of the resident; these uncertain yet solemn intentions manifest in the form of gateway signage, screens, and ornamental mountains. Perplexed and inspired by what he saw, the artist ponders on what prompted these Southeast Asian Chinese to hold on so strongly to the formalities of Chinese traditions, in so much that its importance surpassed their actual place of birth. Is it identity, or bloodline?
To address his puzzlement, the artist employed a looping structure for this animation; since the film has no ending, his question will be left unanswered. The motif of the heart appears in three forms: a meteor that strikes the earth and creates a crater, an organ that transports fluids and fills the crater, and an object that is hurled into the crater and becomes a meteor once again.
Detail pictures:
