Nearby Is the Country They Call Life (II)
毗鄰有個國度，名叫生活（二）
Oil, acrylic, ash, cement, sand, bronze, and sunflower seeds on canvas
Diptych, 160 x 80cm (each) x 2, 2025
Left panel
Oil on canvas, 160 x 80cm
Right panel
Oil, acrylic, ash, cement, sand, bronze, and sunflower seeds on canvas, 160 x 80cm
Based on a photo by Anthony Aguilar, an American veteran, of a Palestinian boy named “Amir.”
Aug.1, 2025
In the news, Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar, recently returned from Gaza, told this story.
On his second day working at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Aguilar noticed a boy who looked six or seven years old—though he later learned the boy was ten. He was barefoot. He had walked eight to ten kilometres without water to reach the site. By the time he arrived, the food was gone. He picked up what little was left on the ground: a few bags of flour and noodles.
The boy then walked towards Aguilar. He thought the boy was asking for more food. Instead, the boy took Aguilar’s hand, kissed it, and said, “Thank you.”
Shortly after, Aguilar saw the boy gunned down by Israeli soldiers as starving Palestinians fled the site.
Jul. 30
A neighbourhood cat, black back, white belly, yellow eyes, comes by every day. I gave her a retro Chinese name, 挂印奴, and a French one: Piou Piou. I bought salmon pâté made for cats. She wouldn’t touch it. She eats only boiled chicken breast.
荣枯咫尺异 幼子饥已卒