The weeds that grow in cemeteries
Are just the secrets we
Take to our graves.
墓地里长出的野草
不过是我们带到
自己坟前的秘密。
The Making of Wild Cranes
Some of these pieces have been written over time, but several of them through the pandemic summer of 2020, when poetry, music and Wild Cranes became a refuge from negativity, a place for the magic of life and human relationships.
Some are freeze frames of a moment in time, a flashback, or a daydream. Others are meditations on confluence and coincidence, on destiny, fate and chance. Some were scribbled in the margins of a boarding pass, or of a notebook on a remote assignment.
Many of us wish to transcend boundaries, perhaps to be greater than ourselves. Translating these pieces offered a door to new possibilities.
In an alignment of stars, Liuyu Ivy Chen, writer, poet, alchemist, brought her incredible sensitivity to the translation. But I wanted the thoughts to transform further, into something visual. The next step led obviously to the elegance and power of traditional calligraphy. In the installation that visual element dominates so that at first glance one may perhaps wonder which has been translated, the Chinese into English, or the English into Chinese – and whether it makes any difference.
The incredibly talented Zhao Xu came into the picture to turn this step into reality. And my daughter Tanya Ghosh, a brilliant artist, turned all these pieces into objects of a unified, luminous beauty.
There were times when I thought this project would collapse under the weight of its own ambition. Four busy artists were collaborating across the planet - the writer Indian born, of a German mother and a Bengali father, writing in English and now living in Washington DC; the translator born in China and transplanted to the United States (New York, Atlanta, and now again New York); the calligrapher in China shuttling between Beijing and Dalian; the designer and photographer grown up halfway across the world and now also transplant in New York.
Trust and faith in the idea made it happen. I am deeply grateful to Liuyu Ivy Chen, Zhao Xu, and Tanya for this remarkable collaboration.
And I am grateful to Penny and David Yao, and David Uy, for seeing the potential of the idea, and having trust in me to actually deliver. It is an honor to show Wild Cranes for the very first time at the Chinese American Museum in Washington DC.
--- Nirmal Ghosh
Nirmal Ghosh is a German-Indian journalist, author and wildlife conservationist, who has lived and worked across Asia with a notable stint in Thailand. He is currently based in Washington DC as US Bureau Chief for the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times.
Liuyu Ivy Chen is a poet, writer, and translator. Born and raised in the mountainous region of central Zhejiang, she migrated to Beijing and then the United States for education and experience. She writes bilingually and transports words across borders.
Zhao Xu is an art collector, painter, and calligrapher living in Beijing. A disciple of renowned artist Yang Renkai, he graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, where he teaches. His work has been shown in Beijing, Hong Kong, and New York.
Tanya Ghosh is a photographer, high-end retoucher and artist based in New York City. Born in India, she spent her childhood in Singapore and went on to develop a background in design in Australia, eventually branching out to the US. Having lived and travelled across the globe she is constantly inspired by different cultures and feels like a child of the world.
