2020, revised 2021

Video with stereo sound, 15 minutes 49 seconds, pastel on repurposed printed matter, pastel on acrylic, pastel on air-dry clay

Piano
Geneva Fung

Videotography
Leung Ho Sing
Leung Tin Chun Jimmy
Lam Sing Yau
Fung Yiu Man

Audio
Chiu Ho Chi
Fung Ka Wai

Production management
Vivian Leung
Chan Chak Kwan
Jones Lee
Sunny Liu
Stanley Mok
Tang Wai Fung
Lui Lee
Lee Yat Ho (HKAPA)

Photo documentation
Dennis Man Wing Leung

The work was made possible through a residency organized by Kayo Tokuda (TOMORROW), and Ryosoku-In in Kenninji Temple, Kyoto; further research was provided by Shunya Hashizume, Akane Takahashi (TOMORROW). Special thanks to Galerie Gisela Capitain.

Official Selection at the 2022 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR); and the 2021 Image Forum Festival, Japan.

Excerpted from Saint Louis Art Museum’s website:

”The 2021 video Sonata for Smoke is a meditation on the symbolic and impermanent nature of smoke. Throughout the video, Young captures the ephemerality of smoke — in particular, the various sounds that accompany its fleeting appearance. He also references the religious significance of smoke through incense burning. Sonata for Smoke was created as part of an exhibition organized and conceived while Young was an artist in residence at the Ryosoku-in Temple in Japan. The video consists of a sequence of actions and images that progress with forward motion across time and space, creating a sense of directionality. However, certain motifs and choreographies of events — including ritualistic sounds and actions — repeat throughout the piece. These consecutive, meditative acts were inspired by the temple setting and its arrangement as a sequence of rooms. Objects from the temple also appear throughout the film, including ceramics that bear impressions of its architectural features.”