This group exhibition takes its title from the first line of Howard Nemerov’s poem Trees, “To be a giant and keep quiet about it.” The opening is a lyrical expression of non-human dignity, reflecting the awakening environmental awareness and environmental imagination of the mid-twentieth century. Nemerov, an acclaimed American poet Laureate from New York who often wrote about the duality of nature, published Trees in 1977 (from The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, University of Chicago Press), a prescient discourse which counters the notion of human beings occupying a privileged position in our world. It was written after the first images of planet earth from the moon forever changed temporal and visual perception in relation to landscape, yet Nemerov’s intimate moments, drawn from introspection and imaginative empathy, restore a sense of earthly discovery. This sense of discovery is one that art has repeatedly claimed.

Alicia Adamerovich, Neil Bickerton, Miguel Cardenas, Olivia Jia, August Krogan-Roley, Stephen Polatch, Autumn Wallace and Areum Yang

Curated by Margot Samel

By appointment

Gallery address: 24 Upper Station StreetTai Ping Shan