The New Silk Road

Silkscreen print, pomegranate iron gall ink

2026

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Between here and here.

A Chinese poem was translated sequentially through the countries along the New Silk Road, all the way to France—where I once lived—and then retraced its steps, ultimately being translated back into Chinese. On the first page are the words that disappeared; on the second, the words that emerged through translation.

Rather than a poem, it is more like an outburst of intense emotions I felt at the time. Written in 2017, looking back, it marks a very important moment in my life and the beginning of my journey along the Silk Road.

This poem about pomegranates is printed with pomegranate iron gall ink. The reaction between the tannins in the pomegranate peel and the iron continues in the air, causing the color to shift over time—making it a living ink, rather than a fixed pigment. The poem feels like a living body as well, given form by its texture.

Both pomegranates and iron gall ink traveled from Central Asia to Europe along the Silk Road.

The Belt and Road’s New Silk Road is about infrastructure, trade, and logistics—what happens when you place indefinable emotions upon it?

(Special thanks to Sarah Breassier.)

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Scroll down for the English translations of these words.