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A line of text is projected onto driftwood picked up from the seaside, with a mirrored surface below reflecting an unreal shimmer. The wood almost merges with its reflection. Through visual metaphor, the work explores the delicate boundary between existence and extinction. Another Kind of Existence echoes Borges’ short story The Other Death.

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2024.08.

 

Dimensions of the Artwork

  • Driftwood: 140cm x 54cm x 30cm

  • Mirror: 200cm x 100cm

Project Details

I found a piece of driftwood by the seaside and brought it home.


I have no way of knowing where it came from or how far it had drifted.


But this dead wood is covered with barnacles,  which makes me believe it lived in the sea for some time.

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Borges wrote a short story called The Other Death,
Which tells the story of a soldier named Damian:

 

In the story, the narrator, after learning of Damian's death,
Tries to find out what kind of person he was.

 

In the first person's account, Damian is portrayed as cowardly and reticent.
In the second person's eyes, he is extraordinarily brave.
Someone else claims they've never even heard of him.
The narrator begins to doubt Damian's existence.

 

In different people's memories, Damian's life remains an enigma.
One was a coward who died in Entre Ríos in 1946,
The other was a hero who fell at Masoller in 1904.
Others create an all-encompassing history.

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"A man who thinks himself a coward
May be very brave;
And a man who thinks himself brave may be a coward."

 

"He loved everything and possessed everything,
But as if far away, behind a pane of glass.
Later he died,
And his frail image just disappeared,
Like water in water."

 

What he was in life is unverifiable;
His traces gradually fade, returning to nothingness.

 

Another death becomes another kind of existence,
An existence that lives in the descriptions of others.

Author's Note

Creating this simple artwork was somewhat accidental, as it all began with finding a piece of "dead wood" on a journey. Due to my own health reasons, I have been thinking about concepts of life and death lately, which led to this direction in my creation. I resonated with The Other Death because perhaps we are all like Damian. In some people's accounts, we are heroes; in others, we are cowards. And still, some might say, "I don't know him."

A real reflection, an image in the mirror, the flood of life and death, dreams, and illusions.

 
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