TITLE: A Beijing Skyline

I grew up in a small place close to the sea, in a flat country where huge clouds roll over the land. During the summer, I loved to lie in the sand, and watch the clouds being chased by the wind and change shape. Now we live in Beijing, and I don't lie in the sand any more. There is no sea, and my eyes sometimes get nervous as they cannot rest on any horizon. Beijing also doesn't have many clouds. Often a bit of a haze in the sky. Often a Beijing Blue sky. But today, there was this cloud. Long and being chased by the wind. The long tower reminded me of a chimney, I thought about factories blowing out their smoke. Yet this was in a clear blue sky. The cloud also made the tower look tiny. So I thought about summer. And then I missed my sea, the horizon and my clouds...

AUTHOR: Vicky Ackx (Norway)

When I grew up in Belgium, I played with words to describe the world around me. Through the years and decades, other countries became a part of me, and so did their languages.
Then we moved to Japan, China and on to Norway.

Suddenly, I lost my ability to communicate.
I became mute, as I speak only a basic level. I became deaf, as the words that come to me do not make sense. I became illiterate, as I can not read. I became the one who does not understand what it all means and how it all connects.

So life put a camera in my hands.

Light became a new line of communication. Light and lines.
Small minimalistic moments but also the big dense city of Tokyo.
Thoughts and things.
A preference for the mystic of monochromes.
Trying to find my voice - still thrown between moods.