Children in the forest (after the exhibition)

a tree in the forest

with leaves, flowers and fruits

Birds come to feed and bees build their nests

little squirrel sleeping under the leaf

early morning evening windy rain

a tree in the forest

Don't need to know you're a tree

a tree in the forest

Don't need to know you're a tree

1 alive

The Sanskrit name अरण्य, transliterated as Aranya, originally means forest, which is extended to "a place of tranquility", "away from public noise", "a place to avoid the lively place of the world", and broadly refers to a quiet place for monks to meditate.

In Southeast Asia, where the trees and shadows are swirling, the Buddhist calendar from April 16 to July 15 is the end of the summer.

I heard the song "A Tree in the Forest" for the first time in 2016 when I was watching the "Power of Walking" exhibition in Taikoo Li, Beijing. I didn't quite understand the meaning of the last sentence of the lyrics (from a quote by Zen Master Ajahn Chah).

Later, I gradually realized that it is a life philosophy similar to the spirit of Dionysus.

Just like all creatures in nature—flowers, trees, and small animals, the living postures are naturally aware of the pursuit of the ultimate in life, the blooming of each other, and the extension of the most “later waves” in all evolution. The limit of possibility...

Nature just lives as it pleases, not how it lives, without being defined/disciplined within the framework of knowing who I am. So, they always seem happy - the joy of being truly free.

In my understanding, this state is also the essence of art and the source of all creative vitality: art is only responsible for sincere and extreme expression, not for defining its own expression;

On the contrary, when artists constantly self-censor and be censored, or deliberately cater to the market and interests, their creations will lose their originality and vitality.

We often praise a wonderful performance with "deeply incisive" and "very dedicated". That's the reason - at this time, the performer is living the ultimate life of the moment, without distractions.

Don't worry about who you are, just live your true self and be happy. Live artistically, treat life as a creation, a song, not for any results, just to enjoy the current process, your life will become light and free, just like a tree and a flower in the forest , a small animal.

Things in the world are probably like that.

2 Photo Exhibition

After the severe winter of the new crown epidemic, people look tired.

I recently participated in a photography exhibition called " Kids In The Forest ", where fresh green brings vitality to our stagnant life.

Perhaps green will give people a fresh and comfortable sense. "Forest" has always been a hot word for Wenqing's punch cards. The literary and artistic works such as "Norwegian Forest", "Chongqing Forest" and "Little Forest" are familiar. To paraphrase a million essential oils advertising slogan: "Everyone has a forest in their hearts".

This forest photography exhibition also made an amazing art installation, a lifelike "forest" that fills the whole room, just like the magical and realistic scene of the movie "Jumanji": as soon as the door of the bedroom at home is opened, it turns out that Entering the tropical rain forest, the next second there will be strange birds and beasts rushing out from behind the bushes.

Of course, in this forest installation, there are no real exotic animals, only the whispers of Chinese and foreign comrades from the corners, telling their stories about coming out, falling in love, and confessing.

Yes, the Kids in the title refers to the LGBTQ...sexual and gender diverse group.

3 in the forest

I often have a magical impression: Guangzhou itself is a dense forest.

The city is mountainous and watery, with lush vegetation and all things growing. You can see all kinds of flowers on the roadside and smell the fragrant fragrance. The air roots of the banyan tree are like time and space being torn into loose threads, growing quietly, striving to touch and connect the thick soil of historical memory from the soaring sky...

The climate here is changeable, often haunted by clouds and fog, the reinforced concrete buildings and elevated buildings form a man-made jungle, the loud white noise on the road, the rushing and whizzing motor vehicles, and the annoying noise behind the busy traffic. The shared bicycle bell is a strange animal that shuttles through this jungle.

All ethnic groups and various races live here, and like small animals in the forest, they rely on it to multiply and thrive.

Yes, the forest is the epitome of human society, and society is a complete ecosystem.

In the context of niche communities, the image of the forest has the connotation of Shelter .

At the end of the last century, researches by sociologists such as Zhang Beichuan and Li Yinhe found that because there is no public place in the public space, gay men will spontaneously form gay strongholds in various cities, commonly known as “fishing grounds”, such as Beijing’s Dongdan. Park/Peony Garden, somewhere in Shanghai People's Park, Jinan Heihuquan Grove, the grove beside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, Wenzhou Huagaishan Park, Hong Kong Kowloon Park, Taipei New Park (228 Memorial Park)... These "fishing grounds" The common features are that there are trees, mostly on the edge of public places such as parks, time folding (usually at night)... all to ensure a certain "secrecy". In addition, the comrades have also developed a unique fishery culture, such as "what time" and "borrow a fire" and other code words. This also includes negative impressions that have been criticized and misunderstood by the public, such as coitus in public toilets and exploratory sexual harassment of straight men - a deep reflection that in the age of underdeveloped Internet, gay public space is squeezed, resulting in The way of expression becomes twisted and twisted.

After entering the new century, under the conditions of rapid economic development and globalization, capitalism and the Internet have allowed the "forest" of comrades to truly move into the steel jungle . There are two types of public welfare space (LGBT activity space, gay center).

And with the rise of gay social networking sites, especially mobile, our forest has entered everyone's computer and mobile phone. Yes, the small forest that the "front waves" of the last century were fond of, moved into our pockets in the era of our back waves, and it seems to be within easy reach. Due to the privacy of mobile phones and the Internet, gay groups are greatly visualized in the "forest" of the virtual world.

However, this small forest is not complete. For online dating, the problem that needs to be solved is to eliminate the information asymmetry between online dating/online dating and real life, and how to make friends safely . On the other hand, the censorship of sexual minority content in the online public space is still strict, and the long-term external censorship has also led to serious self-censorship , and the relationship within the community has become tense.

Our forests are becoming smaller and more fragmented, like patches of moss growing eutrophically in our app, but unfortunately, due to the lack of education and the disapproval of the system, the forest has never been able to be very popular in the public domain. Well-integrated - Ironically, due to the "necessity" of public infectious disease prevention needs, official institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the National Health Commission of China had no choice but to cooperate with the above-mentioned "forests" to achieve large-scale testing targets. This is why our LGBTQ public welfare organizations often have to be properly registered and operated in the name of "AIDS prevention"... In the end, it has led to the public's stereotype of gays often slipping down to become synonymous with HIV and STD.

4 kids

In literature, the image of the child is often used as a metaphor for things that are pure, innocent, beautiful, uncontaminated (socially constructed and disciplined), such as The Catcher in the Rye. And to use it as a metaphor for the LGBTQ...group, I think it's the most appropriate. In the previous article " Human Sense ", I talked about my understanding of multiple sexual orientations, which is like "a tree in the forest" - you don't need to know where you live, just exist so purely naturally, and homophobic morality is unnatural.

And in a terrifying, cruel and oppressive jungle law system , no one can be a good boy or a good person. This is the origin of the concept of "Dark Forest" in "Three-Body Problem", a kind of sinking in the "Hobbes Trap" The inextricable zero-sum game thinking.

I can often feel this "dark forest" in some current gay dating apps... People are afraid of being seen, but they want to see and trap others in the dark, and users and users have evolved into a kind of tense hunting. As soon as I opened up the relationship , the people nearby found that they were all "shrimp men" (without showing their faces and only showing their flesh), and some even used fake photos to create a "suspicious chain", which made me wonder if this is a dating or mating software?

Children are natural, but they are also the weakest. A healthy society should provide "children" with a more civilized and diverse forest, so that children can grow freely in the forest without hiding themselves.

5 Arts and Social Movements

On the afternoon of the exhibition day, in addition to a guided tour by the author of the exhibition, Li Songsheng, the organizer also arranged a discussion on "Art and Movement". In addition to psychologists, public welfare people, media people, infectious diseases doctors, cross-dressing artists, and the editor of "Oral History of Older Comrades", the members who signed up for the exhibition included Ashan.

Li Songsheng said that the relationship between children (LGBTQ) and forests (society/sanctuary) is often like " hide and seek ", which touched me a lot. Because he is still studying and needs financial support, he has not come out to his family, so when he accompanied his mother to visit his first exhibition on the opening day (also Mother's Day), he showed her a castrated version (the author's original words). ) exhibition... Very helpless, this seems to be the general ecology of this generation of former waves, as a child who is not financially independent, it is difficult to gain a sense of security for his family to come out of the closet - all the deep closets (including physical marriage and fraudulent marriage) The essence is also a kind of spiritual castration. In an unhealthy society, all people face the fate of "castration", because all people naturally have different faces , and it is impossible for only one voice to exist!

And art is the softest yet most powerful expression—its power comes from the way it touches the softest hearts of human beings by telling the truth. Therefore, art is the flower that blooms in the soil of life, and this flower is the "falling red" that germinates the seeds of social movement.

6 Fairy 🧚🏻‍♀️

Among all the activities I have attended, the "Fairy Party" organized by Radical Faeries is the most special one. The gatherings are held in an environment close to nature, which nourishes and heals people's body and mind. Communication with people also becomes relaxed, sensual, and deeply connected - so I find that everyone looks like a "genie/fairy", different, yet so natural and beautiful.

When the fairy party is over, returning to the original social jungle, it is like a "dark forest" coming towards you, and there is no fairy energy in an instant. On the road and on the subway, the crowds are turbulent and the river is constantly flowing. People are expressionless, avoid looking at each other, and are full of hostility. We can't feel each other's existence, and gradually become indifferent...

Where will our forests lead? Is it a cruel jungle with strange animals, or Eden with flying fairies?

I think expressing as much as possible as an artist and trying to inspire civic awareness is a great way to make forests fit for our lives. Cultivate an ownership mentality, care about and participate in social co-construction, take other people's affairs as your own, and have the courage to take responsibility for making the situation and yourself better, Be Water!

To paraphrase a little bit of chicken soup, what you are like is what your forest is like. The forest is in our hearts.

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