Exposure - Essays by Li Jia-yi

Journeys are awakenings, A book of memories and redemption, formed through reflection. ❝Before all of this ultimately returns to the final silver-white, before death and oblivion arrive, I can exist in this posture, in order to recognize myself, to prove: this is a landscape that belongs only to me, this is what only I have seen, felt, and experienced: this is my exposure. This is my one and only exposure.❞ — "Exposure" The world may be dim, but the eyes that gaze upon it must remain clear and calm to discern the memories unique to our vision. Since embarking on her writing career, the author has lived in various locations, both long-term and short-term, including Las Vegas, Vancouver, Victoria Island, and Thailand. During these travels and in the interludes between them, the author observes and records their own life and the lives of others with a gentle, serene gaze, probing history and personal destiny in subtle ways. Journeys then become a series of awakenings. As landscapes flash by, memories reveal shafts of thorny light. Amidst this gentle pain, the author reflects on the intimate details of their family history and the struggles of their personal life, contemplating scars and sensing the true nature of life and the bonds between people through poetic prose. During moments of respite, the author seeks to step back as a traveler, observing the stories of others in silence. This collection contains 8 extended essays related to journeys, comprising the author's selected or award-winning works since beginning their writing career. Interspersed throughout are 5 short reading records, inviting readers to journey, read, and experience alongside the author. Endorsements: There is no "theater" in this book. Perhaps, it is not the kind of "theater" we might imagine, the kind of experiential theater often staged within the realm of essays. What is presented is less about the details of experiential scenes, and more about the viewing window aimed at those scenes, the circuitry and intricacies of the internal components. — Yan Shu-Xia (Taiwanese Writer) "Exposure" more directly confronts life and engages with history. Yet, what remains constant is the search for a beam of light, whether faint or intense. — Wang Zheng-Heng (Hong Kong Writer) On the journey of narrative growth, the body must leap over numerous boundaries, allowing the spirit to encounter those unexpected moments of vulnerability, to bear silent, hard-won scars, only then can we discern the faint light within ordinary landscapes, filled with a mixture of passion, sorrow, beauty, and malice. As time sways, you must use words like these, arrange sentences in this manner, to sing out, to summon that self that repeatedly eludes you between long nights and perpetual days, that "us" burned by love and hope. — Li Zhi-Liang (Hong Kong Writer) This is a book of redemption. Amidst wandering readings and travels, the author meticulously edits and magnifies the subtle lights and shadows of life, as if only by gazing at the uneven interplay of light and shadow can we hope to revisit those dim and unclear life situations, to perceive and reclaim the gold within the sands of time that slips through our fingers. "Exposure" profoundly demonstrates a kind of ethics of observation—beauty is not something to be seized, but an experience willingly received, an experience of being "burned." — Hseih Hsiao-Hung (Hong Kong Writer)