Dark Clouds : Beili Liu.

Beili Liu mends quietly, accepting pieces of cloths from visitors and stitching these fragments back together, meticulously and serenely.  This would appear to be a soothing task, if she were not sitting beneath of a mass of pointing downward scissors.

Tranquility and fear.  The two are on different ends of a spectrum - as seemingly distinct from one another as love and hate, war and peace - yet they are forced to confront one another in this installation.  Dichotomies signify opposites.  Yet, an important part of the definition ( and one I often forget ) is that those two contradictory parts make up a whole.

Liu's dichotomous performance is entrancing.  Her simple, everyday task is offset by the dangerous and ominous cloud of scissors, looming over her.  Perhaps this is her interpretation of "the calm before the storm."

Her use of Chinese scissors here is rather macabre.  The ends are sharper and shorter, resembling a dagger.  These highlight the potential violence that can occur and intensify the uncertainty of safety.

it's like she has a ring of light around her.

The colors are perfect: black dress, white cloth, black and silver scissors.  Black and white, God and Lucifer.  It's interesting that the imminent danger and death is raining down from above, but she is stitching her own light below.  This positioning of opposites is understated and astounding.  Just how thin is the line between safety and danger, heaven and hell?

When I was at the Aviary, two of the most striking birds I encountered ( besides the penguins, of course ) were the green-winged macaw and the hyacinth macaw.

The green-winged macaw is a vibrantly colored beauty, adorned with red, blue, and green feathers, while the hyacinth is more regal, in cobalt blue with marigold yellow embellishments.  Decades ago, they were common amongst the forests in South America, but today, both of their statuses is nearly threatened.  It is distressing how quickly a species can fall from common to endangered.  It is like there is an ever present looming cloud, threatening these creatures.

{ Beili Liu pictures by Don Mason. }