A visual representation of "Survival" by Gillian Bickley
TANG Miu Ching
Yan Chai Hospital Wong Wha San Secondary School
‘Survival’ depicts the bravery of a tree, which flourishes in a foul environment of a city. In the upper part of my work, there is a tall tree with many clocks on its head. It represents the amount of time it has lived in the city. This is accentuated by the branches which replace the hour and minute hands. The smiling face carved on its trunk shows the idea that plants have emotions just as humans do. Although humans disregard the tree by sticking posters on its trunk and polluting its habitat, it has decided to close its eyes and smile, showing that the tree is optimistic and indomitable. I also used dark blue for the city and warm colours for the tree to create a contrast in order to highlight the indifference of humans to nature and the perseverance of the tree.
In the lower part of my work, I painted a reverse image of the tree to reflect the environment in which the tree is supposed to stay in. However, the tall tree still survives in this city.
The purpose of this artwork is to encourage those who are facing obstacles in life not to give up and they could learn from the tree in the poem to persevere. The state of mind is often the key to success, not the external factors.
Survival
Thank you trees for being there, for staying
when many of the friends you knew─
birds and butterflies ─ have gone;
for flourishing, even; growing old
where concrete buildings
are constantly knocked down.
How brave you are to survive
in a place where the air is foul
and the noise unnatural;
you who should normally expect
to stabilise your roots
in humid humming forests,
alive with the smells of
animal and vegetable life
(not the smells of mineral death, as here).
It is good to look down a street
and, amazed, to see you there,
solid and green and cool, uncompromised
by the advertising posters on your boles;
a promise
that, since there was a past,
there may quite possibly be a future too.
1982
Gillian Bickley
“Survival” was first published in For the Record and other Poems of Hong Kong by Gillian Bickley, p.25. Copyrights© 2003 by Proverse Hong Kong. Reprinted by permission of Proverse Hong Kong. Please approach Proverse Hong Kong by email (proverse@netvigator.com) for permission to use this poem or others in the collection.