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Plants live with humans: dependence and contradiction

 

 

 

Abstract

 

People and plants are both parts of nature. Through exploring the relationship between people and plants, we probably can see ourselves more clearly. When I visited botanicals, such as the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, these artificial natural landscape places. What triggered my thinking was why they were here, when they appeared, and what kind of relationship they had with people. The practice in this unit is mainly the continuation of the first unit. I will continue to discuss the relationship between plants and people, and narrow the focus to some contradictions existing in the coexistence of plants and people. In terms of creative techniques, I continued the way of collage, and tried sewing in my new works, because I was very interested in creating with soft materials. In this paper, I will focus on these artists, Helen Barff, Tau Lewis, Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao. Through the analysis of their works, we can see how my own works are formed step by step.

 

 

Key words： plants 、humans 、contradiction

 

Human beings and plants are part of nature. From primitive cave to modern office, with the progress of human civilization, human beings and plants have always coexisted. Plants bring benefits to human beings in many ways, but what people can do for plants may only be to plant them in the garden. The contradiction between human beings and plants can be understood as: human beings need plants to provide living resources, such as providing food and producing oxygen. At the same time, plants provide support for human life, such as decorating the living environment and purifying pollution. Plants contribute to human survival and life, but they cannot get due attention and respect from people. As Steve Cutts' animated short film "Man " (2012), human beings often fail to realize their own faults or pay less attention to the resources formed by nature. Because plants are everywhere and easily available, they are ignored. Stephanie Kilgast, a French artist, creates and presents a beautiful underwater world on the abandoned cans, which makes the audience visually attracted and at the same time causes people and nature to think. The key to solving the contradiction between man and plants lies in that man relies on plants to some extent. On the other hand, human beings need to try to understand the situation of plants, understand their resistance from the perspective of plants, and feel the tolerance and kindness of plants to human beings, which will make people pay more attention to plants and treat them well.

 

 

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Fig.1. Stephanie Kilgast, Plastic Is Never Green, polymer clay, acrylics on the empty acrylic plastic bottle, 39 x 17 x 18 cm, 2020

 

 

This kind of affection for plants may have something to do with the influence of Chinese culture and the family environment that I grew up in. Traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy art and literature, from ancient times to the present, often express the author's own will with personalized plants, which makes the plants that can't speak and can't act become emotional and look more like a human being. For example, bamboo symbolizes people of high moral character in Chinese culture. To some extent, it can be said that there is no poetry without plants. Among them, the Book of Songs is the earliest poetry collection in China, which collects 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn period. At that time, people integrated the plants and trees of nature into the simplest emotions. The sentimental plants in the poem confirm the eternal entanglement between humans and nature, and these seemingly mysterious plants carry a body of unknown poetry (Gao, 2018). Similarly, in western literature, plants are endowed with human emotions. For example, Robert Herrick's to daffodils describes: ‘Fair daffodils, we weep to see, you haste away so soon’ (1884). When we read these sentences, we maybe feel that the daffodils are the embodiment of sadness.

 

When I was little, our family had our own yard, which is full of different plants. These experiences led me to be interested in plants and their relationship with people. In the relationship between humans and plants, plants have always been a provider of resources, which provides essential living conditions for human survival. Then, this kind of effort has not been paid due attention. This kind of situation of giving but not being recognized is very similar to my growing experience when I was a child. The situation of plants resonates with me. As a child, I am a silent person who cannot express myself. It is very similar to a plant. It is quiet and silent, but it has strong vitality. I express my will with form and colour. In my mind, plants look like living people. They have emotions, will pursue survival, will not be willing, will rebel or resist, will be happy and will be sad.

 

In modern life, it may be the gardens for people to take the initiative to understand and feel plants. The garden is constructed by manmade. In order to meet the needs of human beings, many kinds of plants are planted in a specific artificial space without the original living environment. The prototype of the modern garden is the mythical Garden of Eden, which God created for Adam and Eve and their descendants. Eden is a precious place for human life, but it is also a place of human exile, which is regarded as the heaven on earth (Atkinson, 2007). Human beings and plants live together on the earth. Perhaps humans cannot live without the help of plants from the beginning of their birth. Plants not only bring human companionship, but also spiritual comfort and spiritual nourishment. Like Claude Monet, the impressionist painter, his garden is also famous in the world. He once said, ‘I became a painter, maybe because of flowers’ (Skea, 2015).

 

 

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Fig.2. Photograph of Claude Monet Giverny Garden Photo by Ariane Cauderlier

 

 

 

The garden is a man-made and unnatural place, which is shaped by human knowledge and experience. It reflects a kind of dependency between humans and plants in some ways (Charmant, 1997, p.20). Moreover, it also reflects the contradiction between people. People have no way out of the city, they need spiritual support. The garden of the city becomes the spiritual habitat of human beings. In addition to the garden, there are many things in our daily life that use plant elements. For example, the plant wallpaper on the wall, the plant stripe on the curtain, which imitates the nature and the real plants are placed together, forming a very interesting effect.

 

In the dormitory where I live, I cannot see the trace of plants. The only nature I can see is the scenery outside the window. I bought a basin of Narcissus and put it in my bedroom. This basin of Narcissus makes me feel closer to nature. When I go back to my room to look at it, I feel that the life of studying in a foreign country is not so lonely. I recorded its growth with photos. Watering it every day and seeing its small growth makes me feel that it has a sense of achievement. I have realized that there is a certain dependence of human beings on plants. In my exploration, I have been thinking about how to pass the symbiotic dependence of plants and human beings and the unwilling and rebellious Abstract emotions of plants through the real world. I learned about Helen Barff in the group discussion. She was a graduate student of the Camberwell College in 2004. Her work makes me impressed, I can feel some emotions inside her work. Barff uses processes such as packaging, casting, or other spatial and surface interventions to work with objects and materials found (such as felt, gypsum, concrete, rubber, or photographic surfaces). She is interested in how materials are shaped in time, or how memories are embedded in materials. Especially the sensitivity to touch is the core of her practice. This is what I am interested in, because my works also use tangible materials to express abstract things. In Barff’s clothes and memory series, she thinks clothes also have memories. They wrap us and give us the physical edge, and it also helps us to define our identity and our self-awareness. When we move in from elsewhere, we pack our clothes and they give us continuity in the new space. Clothes contain memories, they also contain us, so we live in our memories. The idea reminds me, why don not I use clothes as a vehicle to create my plants? Therefore, in unit 2, I started trying to create with my old clothes. The material of the clothing is closely related to people's life. Like plants, we need them all the time, but because they are too common, we selectively ignore them. The soft materials of clothing make people feel comfortable and familiar. If such materials are used as the surface and filled with cotton or other soft materials, it may achieve an unexpected ideal effect and make a work with which people can interact. By embracing the soft plant model, we can touch and feel a comfortable sense of dependence. In this way, it is not only a sculpture, but also an interactive work.

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 Fig.3. Helen Barff, Untitled (eleven), jesmonite, rope, concrete, 675 x 60 x 18 cm, 2019

 

 

In terms of colour, I was influenced by Brooklyn based mixed media artists Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao (sometimes referred to as Chiaozza). When I think about colour and form, the works of mixed media artists Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao give me a glimpse, especially their plant series. They created beautifully crafted and pleasing sculptures, installations, collages and paintings that are easy to sink into. The couple created a unique botanical garden by themselves. In the botanical garden they created, plants are not real plants, and these plant images are made of paper fiber, gypsum, metal, clay and other materials. They painted bright colors on the surface with acrylic. When I first saw them, I was attracted by these lovely plants. The images of these plants come from nature, with natural traces. After their bold color treatment, these artificial plants become fresh, they can attract more attention than real plants. They also have an interesting idea. They believe that all imaginations are real and all real is imaginary. For me, emotional plants are more in people's imagination, which may be a way to bring imagination into reality. They put interest throughout all works, whether sculpture, painting, photography, painting, print.   From their works, I can feel that they enjoy the process of creation. Some of their works are made of paper. I only tried to make some collage works with paper before. It will be a meaningful attempt for me to use collage for three-dimensional shaping. At the same time, I began to aspire to use brighter colours to enhance the appeal of the work. A thing, when people are attracted to it, people will start to want to understand and feel it.

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Fig.4. Chiaozza, Paper Islands, Papier-mâché, acrylic paint, painted paper, Dimensions variable, 2015

 

 

Chiaozza created beautifully crafted and pleasing sculptures, installations, collages and paintings. Especially in their plant series, the couple created a botanical garden by hand. I am attracted by these strange flowers and plants. The images of these plants come from nature, but after their bold color processing, they make them vivid. They have an interesting idea. They believe that all imaginations are real and all real are imaginary. They put the game spirit throughout all the works, whether it is sculpture, painting, photography, painting, print. From their works, I can feel that they enjoy the process of creation. Some of their works are made of paper. I have only tried to put together a picture on paper, but I have not used them to make some 3D works. When I see their work, I am eager to try to use brighter colors.

 

When I try to understand the relationship between people and plants, I also understand the contradiction between them. Just like the movie "Little Joe" (2019), people try to control everything, including plants, while transforming nature and developing civilization. People have transformed natural plants in order to create an ideal botanical garden. In the pursuit of beauty, it also caused another kind of damage. Nature cannot speak, but it can resist in silence. This kind of contradiction should be conveyed to people and cause thinking.

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Fig.5. The post of the film, Little Joe

 

 

The Jamaican Canadian artist Tau Lewis, who has created a lot of works, is a young and productive artist. Her collage and the shape of the cactus gave me some inspiration. Lewis’ works mainly reflect on the historical and symbolic significance of each material, and explore the political boundaries of nature, identity and authenticity. The importance of Lewis's work is often determined by her environment. She creates with objects that have been discovered and materials that have been reused, as well as living plants and organisms from urban and rural landscapes. She links these re-use and collection behaviors to the experience of diaspora. Tau Lewis's portrait is the restoration of posture, the study of black identity and power, memory and restoration. Her work combines cast sculptures, and she is good at finding objects and plants around her.

 

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Fig.6. Installation view of Tao Lewis’s work at Frieze New York, 2018

 

 

Although her works mostly focus on black identity, they are not very close to my theme. However, there are many things worth learning. For example, some of her works also use plants, cacti. She thinks the cactus's characteristics remind her of her black identity. She thinks they have some common features before. They are tropical plants from a super high- temperature climate. They have been super domesticated and can live anywhere in the world. They also grow spines as a way of self-protection. Among many plants, I also like the cactus element very much. They seem to have a strong sense of form. The prickles on cactus are quite different from the colors and materials I use. Cactus' thorns are changes made by plants to fight against the harsh natural environment. Although in reality, the confrontation between plants and humans will not lead to the evolution of thorns, the image of thorns can be used to show the contradiction between plants and humans. If plants can really evolve thorns for the bad treatment of human beings, the thorns may be soft, based on the fact that plants retain the best kindness to human beings.

 

 

 

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Fig.7. Lin Zhu, Hug, cloth, cotton, thread, 180 x 40 cm, 2020

 

 

The relationship between plants and people is complex and mysterious. What I have shown is only a small part. Through my own creation and research, I hope to provide a new possibility for the public. A plant perspective to see the relationship between man and nature.

 

 

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References:

 

Atkinson, J. (2007). Seeds of change: The new place of gardens in contemporary Utopia. Utopian Studies, 18(2), 237-261.

 

Barff, H., 2020. Clothes And Memory | Helen Barff | Axisweb. [online] Axisweb. Available at: <https://www.axisweb.org/p/helenbarff/article/2689-clothes-and-memory/> [Accessed 9 May 2020].

 

Eternitystew.com. 2020. Adam Frezza & Terri Chiao — CHIAOZZA. [online] Available at: <https://www.eternitystew.com/> [Accessed 16 May 2020].

 

Charmant, A., 1997. Art & The Garden: Travels In The Contemporary Mindscape. London: Academy.

 

Gao, Y., 2018. On the plant image in the Book of Songs. Reporter observation, p.126

 

Little Joe (2019) Directed by Jessica Hausner [105 minutes] Place of distribution: UK, Austria, Germany

 

Man (2012) Directed by Steve Cutts [4 minutes] Place of distribution: UK

 

Robert, H.,1884. A Selection From The Lyrical Poems Of Robert Herrick. London: MacMillan and Co.

 

Skea, R., 2015. Monet's Trees: Paintings and Drawings. 1st ed. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

 

 Tau Lewis. 2020. Press - Tau Lewis. [online] Available at: <http://www.taulewis.com> [Accessed 10 May 2020].

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Bibliography：

 

Olson, L. and Berardini, A., 2015. Feelings: Soft Art.: New York: New York: Skira Rizzoli.

 

Scott, J., 2007. Textile Perspectives In Mixed-Media Sculpture. Ramsbury: Crowood.