Miao ~
Trace of Coexistence large outdoor image

Design Notes

Trace of Coexistence explores identity boundaries and material permeability within the urban ecosystem. Rather than treating nature as a passive backdrop, it presents nature as a carrier of urban memory and historical change. Using the semi-transparent qualities of tracing paper, the project overlays human portraits with natural textures, creating both visual and conceptual intersections.

This intrusive gesture quietly questions the marginalisation of nature in urbanisation and invites viewers to reconsider the growing distance between people and their environment.

Trace detail image 1 Trace detail image 2

I hide beneath this skin,
Like trees concealed in the silent rings of time.
They hold the secrets of the city,
While I lose myself in every groove.

This land has never been mine,
Yet here I stand,
Peering into every corner,
Silent as wind through the branches.

I am the witness here,
My figure remembers the weight of your footsteps,
Every leaf has seen you coming from afar.
You think the city belongs to you,
But we have already taken root in this land.

Trace detail image 3 Trace small object image Trace image on ground

I vanish deep within the tree’s grain,
Like water merging into a river,
Losing the shape of my own outline.
Yet I remain here,
Gazing at you in another way.

Trace of Coexistence video still ▶

The video constructs an immersive visual environment that explores the concealment of identity and the reconfiguration of perception. It documents the gradual process through which the human image becomes materialised, fragmented, and ultimately dissolved within the natural environment. As the contours of a face are folded into the growth rings of a tree or buried beneath layers of fallen leaves, the image no longer functions as an isolated marker of identity, but instead becomes an annotation within the landscape itself.

Through poetic narration, the work further examines the reversal of the relationship between the observer and the observed. Within this reciprocal gaze, the boundaries of the self are reconfigured, revealing a profound entanglement and resonance between human and more-than-human forms of life.