48 Cigarettes
Acrylic paint on handmade paper of cigarettes
12″ x 9″ each
2018

I noticed that the behavior of smoking can be like an excuse to be alone – a getaway from reality.

Observing and having conversations with others, I realized smoking can be a way of finding solitude. Especially in downtown cities, people often take a smoke break from work. They stand by the street with the cigarette in hand, but they are on a journey within themselves. They would think about things happening in life, ideals, desires, and seeking answers. Then, they snuff out the cigarette and return to reality when the time is up. The dead cigarette butt is like punctuation, a period ends the conversation they are having with themselves. Different people kill cigarette butts in different ways, some do it gently and some stamp it hard; the dead cigarette butts are the dead dreams, and each person handles it in their own way. I painted them on the handmade papers made from cigarettes, and the postures of each of the butts start to look like dead bodies. The cigarette butt is the clue of what was in the mind, and it is the end of the story. It physically carries the smoker’s identity, and it also metaphorically contains their consciousness. It is evidence of the internal conversation.