Leo Ong's solo exhibition tells the story of a prehistoric human. Through the collection of rumors, folktales, and personal memories, he reconstructs myths anew. These scattered fragments are not evidence of any single past event; rather, they are active materials that react to one another. By rearranging and juxtaposing them, the artist invites viewers to read and reflect on their relationships with contemporary life in new ways.
An ancient proverb circulates much like the instant we capture a smartphone screenshot; a ritual of sorcery in antiquity shares a similar logic with a modern policy plan. Through acts of collection, reconstruction, and juxtaposition, each fragment gains new meaning. In the processes of replication, citation, reforming, and display, these fragments solidify into "new artifacts." Yet once they have settled, how might these artifacts be stirred, reactivated, and made to tell another story?
The timeline of human civilization is not a straight line-it is a spiral. Historical errors, dressed in new attire, may reappear before our eyes. Ancient totems return as social media hashtags; boundary stones reemerge as checkboxes in terms of service; cautionary myths transform into smartphone notifications.
Within this spiral, we are still throwing stones-sometimes real ones, other times through language, images, and digital code. The artist regards the "stone" as both object and metaphor: a tool, a toy, a weapon, and a keepsake. From the stone in one's hand to the screen in one's palm, the transformation of form continues. What we call "progress" may not be a rupture, but a subtle continuity; fate may seem predetermined, yet still contains the possibility of chance.
The "new artifacts" created by the artist neither seek nostalgia nor prophesy the world's destruction. Instead, they invite reflection-to sense doubt, humor, and the tenderness of imperfection. For the artist, these collected fragments are not symbols of failure, but traces and nourishment of human growth.
