How It Began: Glacier 01

Frank Jian brought a piece of glacier, Tan Mu’s Glacier 01 (2025), onboard for Antarctica.

在旅行中带着音乐，对我来说往往是最纯粹的自由。而行囊中如果还有一幅画，那探索时还多一份责任。歌声可以随风而去，但画作必要物归原主，下雨时要护着，人家好奇画作的故事时，要毫无保留地分享和画作路上的见闻。差点儿失去它时，担心同时也会潸然泪下。

令人欣喜的不只是简单的南极之旅，而是我和这幅画一同曾真实地活着，恰如我爱同艺术和心爱美的人们一同真实活着。

-- 菅拂橄.Frank 于辅仁大学净心堂

To travel with music is, for me, often the purest form of freedom. But when there is also a painting in one’s luggage, exploration gains another weight: responsibility. A song may drift away with the wind, but a painting must be returned to its rightful owner. When it rains, it must be protected. When others grow curious about its story, one must share, without reservation, all that the painting has witnessed along the road. And when I nearly lost it, I worried, and found myself moved almost to tears.

What brings me joy is not merely the Antarctic journey itself, but the fact that this painting and I once lived, truly and fully, together, just as I love living, truly and fully, with art, and with those beloved souls who cherish beauty.

Jian Fugan Frank

Jing Xin Hall, Fu Jen Catholic University