悟 · Know my heart

• Main Author: Wang, Ruimeng
• Other Authors: Ang Song Nian
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Visual arts and music::Photography; Humanities::Philosophy::Chinese; Visual arts and music::Arts in general
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/149933
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The Chinese character 悟 WU means “awaken”. This character is composed of two parts “吾” and “忄” which means “my” and “heart”. Chinese characters are pictographic. Thus, it can be deduced that a person is awakened when he or she is able to understand their heart. Zhuangzi’s discerning ideology gave me significant change of how I understand the relationship between my inner self and external society. The project 悟 · Know my heart transforms Zhuangzi’s unrestrained, carefree, and imaginative teachings into imageries that demonstrate his ethereal yet insightful philosophy. I believe that photography metaphysically associates with philosophy. The world hustles and bustles for profit and fame. The stair-like sculpture mirrors the different classes in a capitalistic society. The monochromatic room suppresses our color perception. However, a torchlight counters that, to signal hopes of enlightening light that illuminates our heart in a hustling and bustling world so that we can reserve the absolute freedom for our inner self.