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 × 80 cm each, 2025
Right panel
Oil, acrylic, ash, cement, sand, bronze, and sunflower seeds on canvas, 160 × 80 cm
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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, who had 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 that the boy was ten. He was barefoot, and had walked twelve kilometres without water to reach the site. By the time he arrived, the food was gone. He picked up what little remained on the ground: a few bags of flour and noodles.
The boy then walked towards Aguilar. Aguilar thought he was asking for more food. Instead, the boy took his hand, kissed it, and said, “Thank you.”
Shortly afterwards, 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