richard.huang.photos

理查德の影像碎片 - 石头记 — 封面

The Story of the Stone

Written by

Richard Huang

in

,

On September 7, 2019, I passed through Devonian Square, beside the Image Centre at Ryerson University. Every year during Toronto’s photography festival, I come here to see the exhibitions, so the square is familiar to me. What I remember most are its enormous boulders.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

This small square opened to the public in 1978 and measures roughly sixty by eighty metres. Its defining feature is a vast oval pool that becomes a skating rink in winter and takes up nearly the entire site. Scattered throughout the pool are massive Precambrian boulders. Two billion years old, each has a volume of about forty cubic metres or more.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

In recent summers, the pool has been left dry, turning it into a gathering place and playground for young skateboarders.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Nature has left its own remarkable artwork on these ancient boulders. Look closely, and their surfaces are full of interest.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang
Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Here and there, traces of human cutting can also be seen. Interwoven with the natural markings, they create a harmony and charm of their own.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

These human marks include not only lines incised with metal tools, but also drawings made in colour.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Some of the graffiti on the boulders may be nothing more than signs or symbols…

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Or hazy abstract forms…

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Or lines that dance to the rhythms of nature…

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Or simply the work of young graffiti artists. I do not approve of painting graffiti on stones intended as decorative features. Just imagine every one of these boulders covered in it—what a mess that would be.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang
Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang
Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Compared with the graffiti covering buildings all over Toronto, graffiti painted on stone feels somehow different. It readily calls to mind the markings in prehistoric caves. Those ancient images depicted totems shared by the community. What young people paint today may also be totemic, but more often the totems are personal: sources of spiritual solace, outlets for emotion, and declarations of individuality.

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang

Society today resembles the jumble of graffiti on these boulders: disorder everywhere, with little apparent pattern. Yet if we look carefully, we can always find some measure of harmony and calm—if only for a moment…

Richard’s Visual Fragments — The Story of the Stone© Richard Huang
Want to save or share this post?

Continue Reading

More in This Category

More posts