Li Hsuan. 李璇
Punctum
- n. pl. (anatomy) A sharp tip of any part of the anatomy; a point or other smaller area.
- a concept from Roland Barthes’ book Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography:
- to wound;
- denoting the wounding, personally touching detail which establishes a direct relationship with the object or person within it.
“Punctum has a power of expansion. Here, the photograph really transcends itself, is this not the sole proof of its art?” (Barthes R., Camera Lucida, p.50)
关于我爷爷的一切：武汉的刺点。
Object/component: herbs—honeysuckle, rose, hawthorn; incense.
材料组成：草药—金银花，玫瑰，山楂；檀香
草药是中医药里的重要组成部分。在作品《刺点》中，图片一的草药是山楂，玫瑰和金银花。我用一根缝衣针串起这些材料，然后把它们刺入第一幅地图，象征我的童年回忆和家乡武汉的“刺点”。
我很爱喝金银花茶因为金银花可以净化身体的能量。金银花常被用来制作草药汤剂，它可以分解身体的毒素，处理细菌感染等。玫瑰则可以用于泡茶，玫瑰也有许多医用功效比如平衡新陈代谢，缓解女性的经痛和缓解焦虑等。山楂也是一种草药，可以平衡心率不齐和缓解消化系统的紊乱等。
关于草药的文化和其神秘的功效，我是从我祖父那学到的。我的祖父是一名草药研究者，他研习功夫和中国传统哲学，他用草药和气功帮助了很多人。他的工作是一所学校的校长，他每年会去山里住一段时间，练习冥想和研究神秘主义。几年前我也曾尝试过系统的草药治疗来增强我的体能和体力，它的味道尝起来像一种特殊的汤，我没能坚持下去，因为味道对我来说太苦了。
The herbs are: honeysuckle, rose, hawthorn. I used a sewing needle to make a string for these materials and pierce into the first map, to symbolise the Punctum from my childhood memory and from my hometown Wuhan.
Honeysuckle is often used as medicine and tea, to cure bacterial infections, to counteract poisoning and to kill germs.
Rose is used mainly for making tea and claimed to offer numerous health benefits such as boosting the metabolism, helping relieve pain during periods and helping in the treatment of anxiety and diabetes.
Hawthorn is used as medicine. It’s good for balancing heart rhythm disorder and used for digestive disorders by breaking down fats.
About the culture and mysterious effect of herbs I learnt from my grandfather. He was a herbal researcher, a kung-fu practicer and a healer. He helped hundreds of people using herbal therapy, QiGong exercise, and also by his impressive speech about Chinese classical philosophy. He worked as a headmaster of a local school, and he went to mountains every year to meditate on spiritualism. I have tried herbal therapy some years ago in order to build up my body strength and it was like drinking special soup everyday. I didn’t adhere to it, simply because the flavor is too bitter for me.
