Tik M Solomon YU

If there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, then what do we really gain from our toil?
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As a teacher, every time I read a new list of students, I wonder what personalities and aspirations would be behind their names. After an academic year, I sometimes find their personalities match well with their names, sometimes I am not sure I have pushed them enough, other times I understand there are limits to what a teacher can do. But most often, I have learnt that I have things to improve and need to be more critical to my approach as a teacher.
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In this project, I imagine my collection of 100+ house plants as young people, and give them personal names regardless of their species or market values. The newly given names are collected from the news heard in Hong Kong in recent years. The public figures behind them come from different backgrounds and age groups, and they hold very different political stances, positions and values, being regarded as either loved or despised subjects in the society. I make associations between the names and the plant forms, but also remind myself not to assign them with preconceived prejudice.

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Anyone who find the plants attractive and are willing to know more about them, to learn to take care of them, could adopt them for free. All they need to do is to share a valuable experience, unexpected discovery or special insight from taking care of / nurturing someone (person, animal or plant) for every plant they want to adopt. I hope that adopters can also appreciate and nurture these individual living beings with an open mind.

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Click on the individual photos, or visit this Facebook photo album to see some of the plants and sharing from adopters (in Chinese).

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既然生有時，死有時，栽種有時，拔出有時，那麼做事的人在他所勞碌的事上得到甚麼益處呢？

身為教師，每年閲讀收到的新學生名冊，總好奇每個名字背後是位怎樣的年輕人，名字又背付著怎樣的期願，他們將來會成為怎樣的人。學年過後，有時好笑某某真的人如其名，有時會自問是否威迫利誘騙他們不夠，也有清楚愛莫能助要放手的時候，但最常發現的是自己不足的種種，需要學習反思，自我提升。

在這個植物領養藝術計劃，我把幾年來栽養和繁殖的室內盆栽植物，不分貴賤特性，配上一班少年人的名字，誠邀有心栽種和學習的人，以一個分享交換，免費連盆領養。植物的命名源自於近年新聞中常見的人物，他們來自不同的背景及年齡層，各自抱著不同的思想、政治立場和價值觀，以致各人都有被厭恨或是被擁護的可能。我在植物形態與名字之間進行聯想，但亦會自我提醒不要帶有先入為主的偏見去分配，希望領養人也能以開放的心態，照顧培育每一個小生命。

 

領養者的分享，主要圍繞關於在照顧 / 培育的過程中，察覺到自己不足之處，從被照顧 / 培育對象身上(可以是人、動 / 植物)，有所領略增長了的經驗。你可點擊單張照片，或到此 Facebook 相簿，查看部分植物以及領養者的分享。