Taixu (太虛), meaning “cosmos” or “great emptiness,” is an ongoing photographic meditation on interconnectedness, impermanence, and the nature of being. Rooted in the Buddhist teaching of the Heart Sutra, the work explores Śūnyatā (emptiness) not as absence, but as a state where the boundaries between self and other begin to dissolve, revealing the unity underlying all existence. Our interconnectedness is written into the matter of our bodies: the iron in our blood was forged by dying stars, while the air we breathe is shared with all life. Our bodies are not separate from the world, but extensions of the same elements that form the Earth, living beings, and the cosmos. Through photography, Taixu reflects on this infinite network of relationships, where every form emerges from emptiness, and every emptiness gives rise to form. “Once Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering freely, unaware he was Zhuang Zhou. When he awoke, he did not know whether he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming it was Zhuang Zhou.” – Zhuangzi, The Butterfly Dream, Chapter 2: Qi Wu Lun (The Equality of Things), c. 4th century BCE

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Alvin Ng’s Taixu is presented at the 10th Singapore International Photography Festival as part of Shifting Images: Photography from Singapore 2000–2025, under In Circles.