Immortality 不朽

- Immortality is a series of photographic images created by Sand Wan using driftwood as a theme. The photographer skilfully uses his mind's eye to capture various visual elements of the driftwood from which the essence of its beauty is extracted. A completely new picture that surpasses the original image is presented.

Sand Wan likens the driftwood to a symphony on life that includes a prelude with four movements, namely Wilderness, Drifting, Hardening, Reincarnation and Transcendence.

"The Fraser River flows silently in front of me. Following the current, waterfowls dart between aquatic plants and seagulls fly low dashing past the waving river. Occasionally, a boat sails by stirring a series of wavelets in the glittering lights of waves."

Sand Wan is a fine art photographer. He was born in 1949 in Hong Kong and graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic obtaining a Foundation Design Certificate. While he was in Hong Kong, he was engaged in the publishing business and graphic design. His works have won numerous awards in Hong Kong and international design competitions. Since 1996 he has been living and working in Vancouver.

In 2013, he was invited to exhibit his photographic works entitled ‘The Beauty of Immortality: Reincarnation of Driftwood’ by the Gallery Cathedral Place in Vancouver. In 2015, he held an exhibition called ‘The Passing of Time’ at the city hall of Richmond, B.C., Canada. In 2016, he held a solo photography exhibition entitled ‘Guei Hou’ at the Viridian Gallery in Vancouver. During the same year, he also participated in two group exhibitions. The former was organized by the Chinese Canadian Artists Federation of Vancouver, the latter entitled ‘Line of Life’ was held in the Viridian Gallery, Vancouver. Some of his works remain in private collections. In 2017, he published a photo album “Immortality: Sand Wan Photography.” In 2019 he published award-winning book Finn Slough – Sand Wan Photography Han Mu Modern Poetry. Also in 2019 he participated in Exhibition Formulation of Time – Photography by Phyllis Schwartz, Edward Peck, Desirée Patterson and Sand Wan at Lipont Gallery, Lipont Place, Richmond BC.