About five years ago, during a random sketch in his notebook, he casually drew a symbol: a rod resembling the top of a question mark, crossed by a horizontal bar, with two isosceles triangles extending from either end of the bar. He became deeply fond of this symbol, and in the following years, it would occasionally and unconsciously appear in his doodles.
One day, a vivid scene appeared before his eyes: standing on the edge of a seaside cliff, he was cloaked like a character from a fairy tale or an ancient traveler, holding up the symbol. The horizontal bar spun in the wind, and the triangles reflected everything around them like mirrors. This image lingered in his mind for a long time, feeling like some sort of revelation, though he couldn’t quite grasp its meaning.
Determined to bring this vision to life, he chose Seven Sisters Cliffs as his destination. This location held special meaning for him, as his closest friends had taken him there at least three times between 5 and 8 years ago. Now, those friendships had faded, and Seven Sisters was the only place he knew that resembled the scene in his mind. The strong winds there would also make his symbol device spin as he envisioned.
In the autumn of 2023, he crafted the symbol out of stainless steel and set off on a solo journey to Seven Sisters. The total distance was about 100 kilometers, and he chose to travel by walking and camping along the way, feeling an inexplicable pull to follow this primitive method. Though he initially thought he could complete the trip in 4 to 5 days by walking 25 kilometers a day, it took him 13 days in the end. The number 13, he realized, held its own significance.
While he had prepared for the journey, the reality was far more challenging than expected, and at times, he felt like “The Fool” card in a tarot deck. He attached a small camera to the side of his hat to document the trip. Along the way, many people asked him, “What is this?” At first, he wasn’t sure how to answer, but eventually, his response became, “It’s a question.” Indeed, it was a question.
Originally, he planned to walk back to his starting point, but in the end, he took public transportation home, which only took a little over four hours. The contrast between the 13 days of walking and the quick return by transport felt surreal, like a dream. When he returned home, he left the symbol on the highest cliff of Seven Sisters.
He attached a small camera to the right side of his hat to document the journey. Whenever the footage cut off, it was usually because he had stopped to rest, the camera had run out of battery, or he spent most of the day resting at the campsite.
SUBAI ZHENG 