Book Description by Chun Wai

Adrift in Time is a monologue and travelogue of time. The book is divided into two sections. The images in the first are figurative, while the latter images are abstract. They were all selected from photographs that I took when studying in France. Though these images were taken over thirty years ago, I recall them like it was yesterday. Over the years, some of the photographs have been damaged by mold; however, they remain free from the boundary of preconceptions, and have been opened up to interpretive possibilities. The damaged images are removed from the chains of time and memory. I can’t help but question: what then is the essence of photography?

Elements of photography and literature are interwoven, yet they are not the same. I wish to expand the realm of poetics with the compelling features of both, merging them into my contemplation of life during such a turbulent era. In the images and texts within Adrift in Time, I attempt to trace time, in which all phenomena emerge and perish, along with the relationship between subject and object. In this way, photography becomes a form of contemplation, a reflection on life and existence.

About the Author

The artist Chun Wai was born and raised in Hong Kong.

He graduated from the École supérieure d'art de Mulhouse and earned his Diplôme national supérieur d'expression plastique (DNSEP) from the Ministry of Culture in France. His graduate work focused on integrating Western contemporary art with Eastern aesthetics. He believes that art should never be rigid, but open to all of life. Photography is his primary medium, along with sculpture and installation. He consistently emphasizes that photography provides a pathway to explore the meaning of existence and being, and creates a space for reflection.

After completing his studies in France, he devoted himself to working as a photojournalist, led by his personal artistic beliefs. He travelled around the world to experience the era's confusion and sorrow. Chun's work is meticulous and allegorical. His photographic perspective focuses on interpreting eras of rapid change. By employing both a poetic and prose-like style in his documentary photography, he highlights the anguish and inescapable fate of humans.

He also has won several Human Rights Press Awards, and in 2011, he co-founded the non-governmental organization Health in Action, with friends from the medical field and other professions. Health in Action upholds the belief of humanitarianism, providing medical services to vulnerable communities, and is committed to promoting health equity.

His published collections include Another Horizon, Under Heaven and Cubical Life.