Monkey and its reflection caught together on glass

Face against glass, two images at once. One is sharp, alive, staring out with amber eyes. The other is softer, faded, but still present—the reflection. They meet on the surface, real and unreal, side by side.
The fur runs down in grey and white, rough along the body, softer around the face. A hand reaches forward, pressing on the transparent barrier. Beyond that, everything disappears into green blur, the outside world melted into colour.
The monkey’s mouth is open slightly. It looks like surprise, or maybe curiosity. The eyes hold steady, fixed, but not threatening. There is something almost human in the way it lingers. The reflection changes the whole mood, turning a simple portrait into a small story about presence, about how one creature meets itself in the surface of glass.
In the exhibition
Work 69 of 365
Before We Explain the World
This photograph has a place in the continuous exhibition, alongside the other moments Lu Heng has chosen to show together.
The Position of LookingThrough Glass
See this photograph in the exhibition