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Realms of the Surface: Lacebark Pine
Images © Mo Fei

Born the last day of 1960, Mo Fei is a Beijing poet, photographer, and naturalist who began writing in the late ‘70s. Among his poetry collections are The Hollow Emptiness; Words and Things; Selected Short Poems; Selected Poems 1981-2011, as well as various long poems and extended sequences such as Passing On the Lamp and Light and Silence. He has also created a poetic drama, Orchestra of Madmen. His prose includes Datura Manuscripts and A Brief on Economy. His poetry has appeared in numerous domestic and international poetry anthologies, and been rendered into 12 languages. Outside China, he has been featured at literature festivals in Paris, Croatia, Vietnam, and elsewhere.

In 2010 his photography exhibition “Spirits of Trees and Grasses: A Small World Through the Eyes of a Poet” was mounted at Beijing’s Canon Gallery. During the summer of 2012, invited by the Universidad Católica del Ecuador, he researched and photographed South American native flora, culminating in his exhibition “The Hidden Language of Plants”.

莫非,1960年12月31日生於北京。詩人。攝影家。博物學者。七十年代末開始寫作。已出版詩集《詞與物》、《莫非短詩選》、《莫非詩選(1981—2011)》等。作品入選多種國內外詩歌選本。

主要作品有:《棕櫚樹》(長詩,1982);《狂人樂團》(詩劇,1985);《空白的空白》(詩集,115首,1987);《詞與物》(詩集,299首,1989-1991);《精神史》(詩組,100首,1993-1995);《沒有形容的日子》(長詩,1995);《沒有時間的花園》(長詩,1996);《沒有場景的詞語》(長詩,1996);《沒有交鋒的剪刀》(長詩,1997);《曼陀羅手稿》(筆記,1998);《時間之門》(長詩,1998-1999);《十四行詩》(216首,1994-1999);《傳燈錄》(詩組,108首,2000);《清涼山》(詩組,2002);《經濟略》(筆記,2005);《小工具箱》(筆記,2006);《蘇撥》(詩組,300篇,2007);《光景》(詩組,2008)。《靜謐與光》(詩組,2009)。

自1988年以來,作品被譯成英、法、德、意、西班牙、佛萊芒、希臘、阿拉伯、羅馬尼亞、捷克、克羅地亞、越南等語言,在海外發表、出版。1997年11月參加法國巴黎第四屆國際詩節。2004年11月參加巴黎「歐洲詩會」。2011年11月參加在克羅地亞「中克詩人互訪專案」,2012年2月參加越南「首屆亞洲——太平洋詩歌節」。

2010年5月,佳能北京畫廊舉辦個人影展:「草木通靈:一個詩人眼中的小世界」。2012 年7-9月,應厄瓜多爾天主教大學邀請,以生態攝影師身份考察和拍攝南美原生植物,並舉辦個人影展:「草木的隱秘話語」。

現居北京。

Note

The images selected for this issue, “Realms of the Surface: Lacebark Pine”, are drawn from Mo Fei’s ten year study of tree bark, now being prepared for future exhibition. The long-lived lacebark pine, pinus bungeana, native to northeast and central China, has often been planted near Buddhist temples. Mature specimens periodically slough their bark in peels, leaving scars in a range of green, yellow, gray, and russet tones. Older trees’ bark may turn mostly white, hence the Mandarin name 白皮松 (pinyin: bai pi song), literally “white skin pine”.

「長壽樹」白皮松(拉丁名Pinus bungeana)為常綠針葉喬木,是中國特有的樹種,被廣泛栽植於寺廟附近。莫非說,白皮松之所以有豐富的圖案,是因為樹皮每年春夏時節總有部分脫落。脫落後,瘢痕呈灰白色,之後漸變為淡綠、濃綠、深綠的色塊,最後為紅褐色,然後再次脫落。當它們被鏡頭「發現」,也就跟白皮松沒什麼關係了。這組「表面的世界:白皮松系列」來自莫非十多年來以樹幹為素材的攝影,他目前還計畫專門舉辦一個樹幹系列的觀念攝影展。