“Observation” reveals the truth of all things in the state of closing one’s eyes

The eyes are the windows to the soul? Wrong!

When I closed my eyes in front of Tang Hui’s camera, the moment I let down all my guards in the darkness, I truly understood the shock that the “Observation” series of photography works brought to us. This spiritual experiment that subverts visual inertia uses “closing the eyes” to break the cognitive limitation of “seeing is believing”.

Under his lens, Olympic champions and common people show similar calm expressions, revealing the essence of life that all beings are equal. This expression aligns with the philosophy of “If one could see the essence of all phenomena, one could behold the Buddha”, where the external appearance is like the metal shell of a kettle, while the inner essence of life is the boiling core.
From a creative perspective, the “Observation” series reconstructs the logic of viewing with the “absence of eyes”, ingeniously integrating images, music, and new media installations, transforming the shooting site into an immersive Zen space. The subjects shed their social masks in the darkness, and the viewers are also forced to break away from the conventional belief that “the eyes are the windows to the soul”, exploring the commonality of life in the interplay of light and shadow.

In an era of visual spectacle bombardment and traffic, Tang Hui breaks the norm with “seeing through not seeing”, making the camera a medium for insight meditation. This is not only an innovation in photography art, but also guides the audience to reach the state of “no difference between the mind, Buddha, and all beings” in the transformation between “observing others” and “observing oneself”, revealing the truth that life is inherently complete in the interplay of “seeing” and “not seeing”.