Tzuyu Chen

In 2017, elmoon existed only as a quiet sketch in the corner of a classroom notebook.

It began with the Chinese character 榆 (yú),
which is part of the creator’s name.

It slowly unfolded into three elements:

elm — the elm tree.

moon — the moon.

𓂃 — a river, a flowing line,

or the trace of moonlight filtering through the branches of an elm tree.

/

In the autumn of 2018, the creator moved to Finland.

On a journey from Helsinki to Lapland, the nights became unusually long.

Time seemed to lose its shape.

Outside the train window, the full moon remained in the sky.

The name quietly returned。

Arriving at a small cabin in Salla,

a photograph hanging on the wall caught her attention. Beneath the photograph were the words:

Oli harvinainen päivä, sillä sekä täysikuu että kesäpäivänseisaus olivat samana päivänä.-1999/2099

It was a rare day, because both the full moon and the summer solstice happened on the same day.

She first thought it was the midnight sun.

It was the full moon！

She quietly noted the moment.

And in that quiet moment, elmoon began to take shape.