As light passes through the aperture blades of a camera lens, the sun often shines like a star when photographed. The quantity and shape of the blades determine the look of these stars, a physical characteristic of the lens. This video is shot using Helios 44, a Soviet-made lens from the 1970s, which shares its name with the ancient Greek god of the sun and has eight aperture blades. Since the human eye cannot look at the sun directly, the lens takes the place of Lau’s eyes in recording the changes of the sun. The audio is taken from NASA, whose scientists cannot see inside the sun as well. By observing the trajectory of the sound waves, they estimate its inner movement invisible to the naked eye.

當相機拍攝太陽時，常會出現星芒效果，這是光線通過鏡頭光圈葉片時產生的光學現象。光圈葉的數量與形狀，決定了這些星芒的樣貌，一種鏡頭的物理特性。本片使用一支70年代蘇聯製的老鏡頭，名為 Helios 44，與古希臘神話中的太陽神同名，擁有八片光圈葉。因為人眼無法直視太陽，劉氏以相機代替眼睛記錄太陽的變化。影片中的聲音來自美國太空總署，因為即便是科學家，也無法直視太陽的內部。他們透過聲波的軌跡，推測肉眼無法窺見的內在運動。

Born in Hong Kong in 1991, Jess gained her BA (Honours) in Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong in 2014. Jess’ work applies themes such as narrative fragments, body memory and focus on iterative manual processes and the aggregation of time. Jess’ work involves a wide range of media – videos, animation, installation – it explores the uniqueness and the malleability of each different medium, for example, outlining the fiction and reality with stop-motion animation. Her iconic works are created through the accumulation of labour and time. The material is constantly reorganised, shaped and dismantled in the world of video, connecting and extending with the memory and imagination of the city as well as the individual self. At the same time, her works aim to break the cold impression of media art, to portray the temperature of people, the traces left by her body, and to emphasise the process of creation and imaging. 

Jess’ artworks have been exhibited and screened internationally in: Ars Electronica, Austria, Animatou – International Animation Film Festival, Switzerland, Image Forum Festival 2022, Japan, Two Temple Place, London, IFVA Media Art Festival, Hong Kong, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, West Kowloon FreeSpace, Hong Kong and etc. Jess was the selected artist of Tai Kwun Contemporary Artists’ Studio Residency 2020 and awarded the Nanying Prize from Taiwan 2022.