An early morning in the old town of Kuqa: crowded streets and a quiet old teahouse. In and out of the camera is a taohuayuan or “peach blossom land” that is both real and fake. The relationship and boundaries between its inside and outside are blurred and uncertain: “seen closeup yet seeming thousands of miles away, viewed from a distance yet feeling within arm’s reach.”

The peach blossom land is a multi-layered spiritual homeland blending the ideals of a fairytale and that of a recluse. It also contains multiple layers of meaning including cosmology, beliefs, ideals, and a sense of belonging, transforming ‘scenery’ into ‘landscape.’ This is a visual cosmology. Serving as a marker, the peach blossom land offers the viewers a glimpse into different times and places. The entanglement in the image serves as a “veil,” implying that the search for an “entrance” is not always easy and straightforward. Throughout the creative process, I always feel that there is a path slowly unfolding in front of me, through which I find my own world, a place untouched by others, “seemingly luminous.” The peach blossom land is timeless; forgetting about time might be one of the entrances. It always remains an object of longing. This work is my tangible perception of a passage, where both the inside and the outside are real.