Alison Lee Ka Yan

Gold Prize

Stone, agarwood, and velvet flower. Three materials, three layers of existence, one quiet transmission.

Stone was once a fragment from a high mountain peak. After the collapse, its edges were worn away by time, yet it did not become completely smooth. It bears all that rests upon it without a sound. It believes that the essence of the world is “unchanging”—that in the deepest place, some things cannot be shaken. It is the foundation, the silent carrier.

Agarwood was once a shuttle in a craftsman’s hand. Passing again and again through the loom, it learned another kind of strength—not resistance, but negotiation. It stands upon the stone in its incompleteness, where wounds have slowly seeped resin and condensed into fragrance. It does not try to hide its fractures but transforms them into something supple. It inherits the stone’s “unchanging” essence and adds to it the possibility of "shaping".

Velvet Flower (Ronghua) is the last to arrive. It originates from China’s intangible cultural heritage—an ancient craft that uses silk threads to handcraft flowers, once flourishing in the Tang dynasty court as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune. Silk is soft; iron wire is firm. Together, they allow the flower to rest steadily at the highest point. The iron wire is shaped like roots, reaching down into the crevices of the stone and twining around the wood. This is not growth, but settling.

Stone, wood, and velvet flower—there is no dialogue between them. They simply come together, forming a quiet equilibrium. The secret of transmission lies precisely here: the stone offers the foundation of “unchanging,” the wood transforms it into the possibility of “shaping,” and the velvet flower becomes the lightly resting “present moment.”

The concept of this work originates from an English saying:

The past is a shadow to forget. The future is a haze to dream. The Present is a gift to be seized.
We have transformed the spirit of “seizing the present, living in the now” into a quiet gift—dedicated to all those who have supported and cared for us. Those hands that held us up, those silent trusts, have all become the foundation, the support, and the resting place of this work.

Now, the three are together. Now, it is here, pausing for you.