Taixu II

I’ve always liked to jokingly share with anyone that my works are my “babies” and “children” because I’d like to think our projects represent the manifestation and culmination of all our passion, our experiences, and perhaps even the graces of our inner child. In a way, we birthed an entity after spending years or perhaps decades of working on them, and they represent to our audiences via all forms of channels, spaces and mediums, our visions, ideas and stories. It becomes the sole representation of us when we’re not around to explain or share about them.

So in my series Taixu, I also liked to consider this project as the key that links all my current and upcoming projects or “children” into a single family, I daresay something like a star system with the planets in orbit. It represents a deeper aspect of my inner self, a reflection of all my culminated experiences, joy, interests, and most importantly, knowledge learnt from ancient texts, philosophies and beliefs, which drive me to continue doing what I do.

The doctrines of Buddhism go deep into the core of my creative practice, where the six realms of “Samsara” or the cycle of life, are represented in the six projects that I’ve quietly been nurturing and working on, each on its unique entity. Taixu represents the teachings from the heart sutra, that unites all of my work together.

Alvin Ng is part of Issue 17 by Guest Editor Torbjørn Rødland.

Check out his Artist Feature Ovid’s Fasti.