“On the Verge of Waking” describes the fragile moment between full wakefulness and still being in a dream—a state suspended between dream and reality, before consciousness fully clarifies, even as body and mind begin to stir. Yi Chun often finds inspiration in this in-between state. In such moments, she cannot always tell whether she is holding on to a dream or a passing thought, but the artist enjoys this state. In her calligraphy, the brush moves between restraint and release, holding a quiet tension—like beams of light entering the eye at the moment of awakening. The composition reflects this delicate threshold of awakening. Yi Chun begins with intention, yet allows the work to unfold without fixing its end in advance. In jiang (將, “on the verge”), the strokes move from precise control toward looseness, giving way to the more forceful presence of xing (醒, “waking”), as if the work itself were stirring into consciousness. Just as the brush approaches the edge of release, it is brought to rest at a precise moment. This is less about pursuing smoothness than sustaining a state of alert awareness.
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