‘This is the reason for this journey into hyper-reality, in search of instances where the imagination demands the real thing and, to attain it, must fabricate the absolute fake; where the boundaries between game and illusion are blurred.’

from Travels in Hyper-Reality, Faith in Fakes by Umberto Eco

With the story of the shadow, how much reality can be conveyed? How many interpretations can be generated?

Shadow is just a flat area of shade and is made when light shines upon an object. A shadow is the two-dimensional silhouette of an object, and its size, shape and sharpness all depend upon the intensity of the light source plus the angle and distance from where the light shines. Moreover, the shape of the shadow also depends on the texture and shape of the place on where it is projected. Obviously, shadow reflects only partial reality yet triggering so many different associations and interpretations by observers.

Where there is light there must be shadow and it is inevitable. In contrast to the brightness of light, shadow belongs to the darkness, which also serves as a metaphor for the dark side that accompanies the bright side. Shadow does not come out of thin air, always telling us that the reality is in the other end, it all comes down to our willingness to face and probe it. As Haruki Murakami in his acceptance speech entitled “The Meaning of Shadows” upon receipt of the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in 2016: “You have to patiently learn to live together with your shadow. And carefully observe the darkness that resides within you. Sometimes, in a dark tunnel you have to confront your own dark side.^[1]”

This work is the 9th creation of series “Faith in Fakes” which explores the boundaries between the fake and the real to reflect on the unusual phenomenon from which is derived by the rapid development of Macao.

「這就是為什麼沉迷於超現實之旅，追尋想像所要求的真實，為了得到真實，必須創造絕對的虛假。這樣才能模糊遊戲與幻覺之間的邊界。」

選自「超現實之旅-對虛假之信賴」by Umberto Eco

影子的故事，能反映出多少的真實？又能衍生出多少的解讀？

影子只是一個平面的幻影，因光線照射到物體而產生的。影子的截面呈現出物體的二維輪廓，而影子的大小、形狀和明暗等會與光源的強弱、投射的角度、跟物體的距離有關。甚至，影子的形狀也取決於其所投射到的地方的紋理和形狀。顯而易見，影子只能反映某部分的真實，也會因此而產生出很多的聯想和解讀。

有光線，就有影子，我們不能逃離影子。而影子相對於明亮的光線，它是陰暗的，也被暗喻為與光明並存的黑暗面。影子不會憑空出現的，時時刻刻地訴說著它的另一端就是真實，只是我們願意面對和探索與否？正如村上春樹在2016年獲頒「安徒生文學獎」，並特地以「影子的意義」為題發表獲獎演說：「你必須耐心地學會和你的影子共存共處，並警惕地仔細觀察影子。有時，在黑暗的隧道裡，你必須勇於對抗自己的陰暗面。^[1]」

此作品是屬於「對虛假之信賴」系列的第九套創作，以探討虛假和真實之間的邊界去反思澳門這一座城市的急速發展所衍生的特異現象。