Ox and Horse Tales by Visitors of After A Thousand Miles Exhibition
For nearly two months after its launching, the After A Thousand Miles- Wen Jung Hsu's World Tour Exhibition held at Fo Guang Yuan (FGY) Art Gallery Christchurch has been well received by the public. At this Exhibition, visitors not only admired the exquisite works on display, but also learned about the exotic cultures of foreign lands.
New Zealanders June and Geraldine were amazed by the Ox series of paintings in the Exhibition. They felt that the Ox paintings were so vividly painted that the Oxen in the paintings appeared to be in conversation with one another. June and Geraldine believed that Artist Wen-Jung Hsu must have had a long-term interaction with Ox to be able to come up with such expressive works. From the painting "Welcome Spring", June and Geraldine learned that, in Asia, Ox was traditionally used to plough the farmland. June, who grew up in a farming family in Christchurch, shared her story that when she was a child, she often followed her father to the farm and saw her father working the field with horse-drawn plough. At work, the horse's reaction was clever and dexterous, offering great help to her father. During that time, she and her siblings had also developed a deep bond with the horse. Up till today, they still have fond memories of their times with the horse then.
Erna Henning, a resident of Darfield New Zealand, was also very impressed by the Welcome Spring painting. In the painting, Erna could feel the interactions between the people and the Oxen and the joys of rural life. Born and raised in South Africa, Erna had the opportunity to see lions, leopards, elephants, zebras and other wild animals in the wildlife sanctuary. Erna heard from her elders that South Africa used to use horses to plough their fields. However, in the late 1800s, horses were suddenly bitten by inexplicable insects that caused a large number of deaths. Farmers had to make good use of resources and they quickly trained zebras to cultivate the land. Later, when the disease disappeared, the horses returned to help in the farm, and the farmers stopped the use of zebras for farming. Later, someone successfully mated a zebra with a horse to produce a cross breed known as zebroid or zorse.
Christchurch siblings, Sarah and David, carefully examined every Exhibit at the After A Thousand Miles Exhibition and were deeply impressed by the exquisite sculptures and paintings. They were full of praises for the artistic talent of Artist Wen-Jung Hsu. They liked the painting Bodhi Practice most because they could feel the joy of the child riding on the Ox. The red background further added a joyous mood to the painting.
By visiting the After A Thousand Miles Exhibition, the visitors from Western countries not only had the opportunity to learn about the Chinese folk cultures, but were also able to broaden the horizons of other listeners around by sharing with them their own experiences in New Zealand or from other parts of the World. This sharing of experiences was important because it served to link different parts of the World together and because it promoted cultural exchanges among people of different backgrounds. Indeed, this could well be an alternative form of Education!