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Soft resistance: through the contradiction between man and plant, we can see man's dependence on nature

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Abstract

 

 

Both humans and plants belong to nature. Although they are all creatures, the relationship between them is not necessarily equal. Plants are the messengers of nature. In many cases, we will think of pure nature when we see plants. Although human beings are born in nature, they use their wisdom to constantly transform nature in order to develop their own civilization. In the crazy development of human society, scientific and technological creation and urban construction, and in the massive development and utilization of natural resources, people often neglect the communication with nature and break the balance between man and nature, even though people know the importance to themselves of the natural environment. In recent years, most of the art of environmental protection has tended to express the dissatisfaction, anger and protest of nature, and shows the contradiction between man and nature in a more radical form. As a member of human beings, I have always been interested in the relationship between human race and plants, and I know that human survival and development can not be separated from the support of nature. I try to show the silent protest of plants in a gentle way, so that people can interpret and actively think about the importance of plants and the plight of plants through soft visual signals. The deep meaning of all this is that we rely on nature as human beings, and therefore we should always pay attanetion and hold it in awe as the suppliers of human development.

 

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Key words： plants  humans  dependence  relationship  resistance

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Plants and human beings get along day and night. Plants are so familiar to human beings that we do not take the time to observe them. By chance, I came to Barbican Art Center in downtown London. There is a sky garden hidden in the city building. Barbican conservatory cultivates more than 2000 kinds of plants from all over the world. Because it is built indoors, it is not as spacious as the outdoor garden in terms of sightseeing experience. At the same time, it is crowded with a large number of tourists. People seem to be obsessed with an oasis in a city where they give up the chance to rest in their comfortable home on weekends and choose to come to Barbican Conservatory and meet the plants there. This indoor garden, which only opens on weekends, makes people yearn for it. In the artificial environment garden, people get along with plants so harmoniously. Similarly, many people choose to enjoy their weekends in some outdoor parks. The feeling of returning to nature seems so comfortable, even if these "natural scenes" are designed and constructed, rather than pure nature.

 

 

"Garden" is translated into "Jardin" in French and "Garten" in German, which means a land bound. After careful management, this bound land has become a symbol of happiness and love of life, and also conveys the vision of the future world. Therefore, it seems that the trend of the garden is ambiguous between nature and individual, reality and virtual, spirit and object, which is difficult to define clearly. Gardening is not only related to the problem, but also the response of the host, emotion and soul. Garden can not only describe the relationship between man and nature, but also interpret people's understanding of the world, and can be an ideal country for people to hope for (Giovanni Aloi, 2019). It starts with the impulse to create a better world: the memory of Eden in the Bible is the yearning for idyllic fairyland, the concept of Xuan Pu for Chinese people, and the imagination of Paradis by Persians... "people have persevered in creating this mythical paradise." (Jellicoe, 1995, p.87)

 

In the long history of the earth, mankind has not experienced a long time from its appearance today. However, with the progress of science and technology, human civilization has shown an accelerated development trend. The boundary of human cities is gradually expanding. The number of buildings built with steel bars and concrete not only accelerates the growth in number, but also creates new records in height. The production quantity of vehicles and the number of per capita ownership are increasing. All kinds of shopping malls and entertainment places are emerging.

 

All these make people not only enjoy the benefits brought by the progress of civilization, but also bear the suffering of noise and impetuousness. Some people are running about exhausted by life , others are busy for success and wealth. Because of the growth of the global population, the competition between people is growing more and more intense, and the destruction of nature is increasing. Whether on campus or in the workplace, people are eager to show their talents and compete with each other for the chance of success through fair or unfair competition. It is the pursuit of fame and wealth that makes our life like a battlefield. It seems that modern people are more likely to feel physical and psychological fatigue, people are more eager for a peaceful and comfortable life, and are eager to be relaxed mentally and psychologically. Therefore, the emergence of city garden fully meets the needs of people. With the enhancement of the sense of science and technology in urban construction, the urban landscape gradually lacks the kind of intimacy that nature brings to people. Far away from the communication with nature, it is difficult for people to find a place to feel and talk with nature. Urban garden is not only a return to nature, but also a natural "imitation and symbol" (Carter, 2013). People build a lot of artificial natural environment in the city, when people are in it, it is easier to feel relaxed. Plants are the protagonists in the garden. They represent nature and communicate with human beings. They are needed by human beings and convey the natural flavor to people.

 

Because of the impact of the Coronavirus, most of my time is spent in my home. It is easy for us to notice through the familiar traces of things, even if they are not familiar with the environment, and let us ignore the traces behind them. I realize that many small things in my life have traces of plants. For example, my wallpaper is a lot of small, simplified plant patterns arranged on a flat surface, and there are artificial flowers in the bathroom that seem look the same all the year round. I began to notice the question of why there are so many plant elements in people's living environment, even if they are not real plants. This kind of situation will appear, can we understand it as people have a strong demand for plants in terms of physiology and psychology, so that plant elements can spread throughout the living space we create. With this kind of thinking, artificial plant element objects have attracted my attention. In fact, people's dependence on plants has been shown for a long time. In the primitive society of China, plants were painted on ancient painted pottery bottles. After years of research and summary by archaeologists, these intricate patterns have a common source - nature, and human exploration of nature. Painted pottery patterns tell us the living environment and beliefs of our ancestors in their unique way, and convey important historical information to us. Plant ornamentation is mostly related to farming life, which is a miniature of primitive agricultural life at that time, representing people's desire for fruits and grain harvest. Therefore, the plant patterns of primitive society can be seen as the sustenance of "people's desire for a better life". (Li, 2016, P.4)

 

 

 

 

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Fig.1. Chinese primitive society，Majiayao culture and flower pattern pottery pot

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From the 17th century to the 18th century, still life painting was very popular in Holland. Many families preferred to use still life painting as home decoration. With the prosperity of the country, Dutch people pay more and more attention to the taste of daily life, and their pursuit of education, commerce and material is gradually rising. These changes have a strong impact on the art market: at the beginning of the capitalist market, it is reasonable that still life painting developed into an independent school in the world's first consumer society, Holland. Among them, some painters who specially depict flowers were born. They were called "flower painters" (Taylor, 1996). It was a period of vigorous development of still life art. Thanks to the progress of relevant natural science means, the observation of flowers was more subtle. Flowers make us have a new understanding and thinking about life, is the most brilliant and passionate expression of the beauty of nature. Flower is constantly changing its meaning in the history of art, and plays an increasingly important role.

 

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Fig.2. Beautiful Kala or vase in crystal bottle， Louvre

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Like human life, flower life has experienced the process of budding, growing, blooming, and withering, which also implies the germination, growth, maturity, decline and even the final death of human life. It is also the interlink between life that makes us cherish and appreciate the flowers and appreciate the natural life more. At this time, the plant painting can be seen as people want to retain the short-term beauty. This may be people's psychological and spiritual pursuit of the beauty of nature transmitted by plants.

 

 

 

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Fig.3. the picture I took of the flower beds by the sea in Qingdao

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In June 2020, I went to Qingdao to visit my friends. In the comfortable and beautiful seaside, it is a vast natural scenery, but what attracts my attention is a piece of blue and red tulip in the lawn of the seaside garden. These simulation tulips are particularly dazzling. Although their colors are very bright and their shapes are similar to real tulips, they are not in harmony with the surrounding environment. They are more like an installation work. This artificial way of beautifying the environment also reminds me of another people's behavior of deliberately modifying plants. In order to promote the growth of plants, people will use LED light that imitate the sunlight to illuminate plants, so that they can grow more luxuriantly. These behaviors make me feel that people need plants from the bottom of their hearts. Although it seems that people transform nature according to their own needs, or even a kind of confrontation with nature, in my opinion, it just reflects the strong demand of human beings for plants, or their dependence on plants and nature. With the development of human civilization, modern cities have been established and developed. The urban environment made of reinforced concrete and many man-made products gradually separates man from nature. Human beings have developed and built cities in nature. Because of their dependence on nature, people have built their own "nature" in cities, even plastic plants that can be comforting in spirit.

 

In Walden, Thoreau thinks that nature is human's "great grandmother" (Thoreau, 2004). Human is a part of nature, and returning to nature is the original internal need of human beings. Thoreau's behavior in Walden lake has carried out his strong belief of returning to nature, being friends with nature and harmonizing with each other. He has fully enjoyed his pursuit of natural life and living realm. He should be the most natural man.

 

The naturalization of human beings is not only the physical migration and proximity to nature, but also the psychological and spiritual return to nature to obtain freedom. This is a kind of enjoyment that makes people happy. At the same time, Li Zehou（1999）, honorary doctor of humanities, philosopher and aesthetic researcher of Colorado University, said that he was involved in nature and regarded nature as the object of appreciation and entertainment be one with it. In Walden, we deeply feel that Thoreau attaches great importance to emotional psychological experience and emphasizes the spiritual and aesthetic significance of nature. For example, he “is willing to get close to the nature, which is the inexhaustible source of life" (Thoreau, 2004), hoping to have a dialogue and resonance with nature; while enjoying the beauty brought by nature, he has also shared the same breath and destiny with nature. Walden lake just brings people a new understanding of the concept of nature and life in our society, so that we can realize the importance of harmony between man and nature. It shows us that human beings need to return to plants and nature. In the city for a long time, out of touch with nature, eager to return to nature.

 

This view of Thoreau coincides with the view of Chinese Taoism, "the unity of man and nature" is the fundamental spirit and highest realm of Chinese traditional culture (Chen, 2016). "Heaven" refers to "vast nature", and also means "supreme domination" and "supreme principle". The unity of heaven and man in nature, belief in heaven and man, virtue in heaven and man, and the unity of heaven and humanity. Its original meaning is the unity of nature and man, and later evolved into the idea that the natural environment and human society must develop harmoniously. On the issue of the relationship between man and nature, Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, the thinkers, philosophers and founders of Taoism in the pre Qin period of China, share a common understanding with Thoreau, the representative figure of American Transcendentalism in the 19th century. "The unity of man and nature" is the basic spirit of ancient Chinese philosophy. Lao Zi believes that Tao is the wood source and foundation of all things. "Tao generates one, life two, two generates three, and three generates all things" (Lao, 2014). Man is one of the things in nature, and human society is a part of the whole nature. This is a reflection of Lao Zi's thought of "unity of heaven and man". Zhuangzi said: "Heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things I do" (Zhuang, 2003), which makes the idea of "the unity of man and nature" clearer. Heaven and earth coexist with human beings, and all things coexist with human beings. Man is inseparable from heaven and earth, and all things. Like Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, Thoreau also had a strong sense of integration with nature. He is more willing to see man as a natural habitat, or a part of nature, rather than as a member of society. This shows that Thoreau regarded human beings and animals and plants in nature equally as a member of nature, which is Zhuang Zi's "Heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me" (Zhuang, 2003).

 

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Fig.4. Miguel Chevalier, Virtual Garden

 

 

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French installation artist Miguel Chevalier's Virtual Garden series creates a similar ideal country. His works present a supernatural artistic conception - a new generative and interactive garden. The work uses algorithms to create an artificial life universe with visual effects such as growth, diffusion and disappearance, and the lush virtual garden will bring tourists into the natural landscape interwoven with dream and reality. Virtual plants appear randomly, bloom, and then fade, and repeat endlessly as the garden constantly updates and changes its own dynamics. When the audience interacts with the works through infrared sensors, the plants will tilt to the left or right. Miguel Chevalier uses modern technology to let me think and enjoy such a virtual plant garden. It seems that everything means the human need for plants, whether psychological or physiological, whether real plants or fake plants.

 

 

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Fig.5.  Suttons floral display, 1958

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Different from the virtual plant display or the use of simulation plants, people will also use science to intervene in the established life process path of plants, so that plants can become what people want. The annual flower show of Chelsea in England can be traced back to the first flower show of the association held in its Chiswick garden in 1827. A lot of planning is needed to get the garden and Exhibition ready for Chelsea in time. This requires growers to move plants that normally do not bloom in the spring between the cold storage and the greenhouse to delay or advance flowering so that they can blossom perfectly at the flower show. In order to make the flower show achieve the best effect, people artificially control the flower species and flowering period. It can be seen that such a flower show is a product of meeting human desires. On the one hand, it is sought after by people and can reflect their social status. On the other hand, people carefully choose their favorite plants, even if they are not seasonal flowers, they will try to create conditions.

Human beings need development, and in the process of human civilization development and technological progress, human beings are used to controlling everything in their own hands, and sometimes even think that they can be above nature. This is the emergence of contradictions and conflicts, the arbitrary manipulation of human nature and uncontrolled waste, will get the resistance of nature.

 

 

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Fig.6. Crowds on the opening day of the 1934 Chelsea Show

 

 

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Ice watch by Danish Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson calls for the silent resistance of nature. In 2015, he and Danish geologist Minnick Rohin brought 12 pieces of floating ice with a total weight of nearly 100 tons from Greenland, and then placed them on the square in front of the pantheon in Paris and put them in the shape of a clock. As time goes on, these ice blocks begin to melt in the sun. In this process, the audience can intuitively experience the "climate warming", and make this global problem directly imprint on the people's hearts. In the future, they will be more sensitive to such issues. Surprisingly, unlike other works of art, these works of art, known as ice bells, have no fences and no security. They appear naked in the square or the open space in front of museums, welcoming the audience to touch and accelerate their melting. The ice turns into water on people's hands and clothes, and more of it flows down the ice to the ground, and then seeps into the ground. As they become smaller, the marks on the ground become heavier and heavier, people feel lost and never come back. Also aware of the "people" in the acceleration and promotion of the role, a sense of crisis arises.

 

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Fig.7. Olafur Eliasson, Ice watch, 2015

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Similarly, plants are resisting, but their voices are weak. As far as we can know, some plants have been extinct or endangered due to human activities. "Plants are the foundation of all life on earth," said Dr.Eimear Nic Lughadhav(2019), a member of the research team at Kew Royal Botanical Garden. "Plants provide oxygen and food, and are the backbone of the ecosystem. Plant extinction is bad news for all species." Dr. Maria Vorontsova(2019), also from Kew, said: "the true rate of extinction of plants may be several orders of magnitude higher than the findings in the journal(Nature, Ecology & evolution). There are thousands of "dying" plant species in the world, and the last survivors have no chance to reproduce for some reason, such as the extinction of only one sex or the large animals needed to transmit seeds. The main reason for the extinction of plants is the destruction of natural habitats by human activities, such as deforestation and conversion of land into farmland, while another reason for extinction is that human beings have collected too much, such as sandalwood from Chile, to extinction because of its fragrance. In the impact of the leakage of human built nuclear facilities, radiation has affected the animals and plants in the area, and their appearance has changed significantly. This change makes the irradiated plants and animals obviously different from the normal original appearance of their species. In most people's eyes, the variation of animals and plants can cause discomfort and even fear. These strange, extremely abnormal forms, or unnatural growth of the appearance, will make people pay attention to and alert, is a kind of warning to people.

 

In the impact of the leakage of human built nuclear facilities, radiation has affected the animals and plants in the area, and their appearance has changed significantly. This change makes the irradiated plants and animals obviously different from the normal original appearance of their species. In most people's eyes, the variation of animals and plants can cause discomfort and even fear. These strange, extremely abnormal forms, or unnatural growth of the appearance, will make people pay attention to and alert, is a kind of warning to people.There is another kind of mild and less sudden mutation, which is artificial transformation and transformation, such as grafting, hybridization, genetic transformation, etc. The change of plant appearance caused by this kind of gentle transformation is not very obvious, relatively speaking, it will not make people uncomfortable, and may even make people happy. For example, genetically modified crops, blue chrysanthemums, black roses. Although they are acceptable, they are unnatural, like radiation mutants.(Mielby, 2013)

 

 

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     Fig.8. Christopher Marley, Limited Mosaic Prism, 24X30cm

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When it comes to artificially cultivated heterochromatic plants, it reminds me of Christopher Marley, a natural artist I learned from my research. He used a variety of natural bright colors of insects, through specimen production and collage, made his works. What interests me about Christopher Marley's work is that it grabs my attention in an instant, starts watching and thinking. The most direct reason why I can quickly attract me is because of the colors presented in the works, and the source of colors is actually many poisonous and dangerous insects. Most of their appearance are bright colors and have stripes. These colors are formed naturally and have a warning effect. The intuitive expression :"Look, I am very dangerous!" is an expression of the confrontation between insects and natural enemies. This is an evolutionary achievement of self-protection. For plants, the method of self-protection is more likely to evolve thorns. For plants, color, as a stable and effective visual signal, is usually a lure signal of flowers and fruits, more often an invitation to bees and humans, and in some cases, a warning and defensive signal. "After sampling and learning, herbivores can recognize this defense signal and take the initiative to avoid it, thus forming the warning color of plants." (Li, 2006) for example, in order to avoid being gnawed, the tender leaves of plants produce highly toxic cyanide as a defense weapon, and at the same time display red anthocyanins as warning signs. Perhaps, plants can also send warnings to people through strange and bright colors and stripes, such as saying "Hey, please pay attention to me".

 

 

Different from the expression of radical environmentalism, they focus on showing the side of conflict and contradiction. My idea is to make people feel the dilemma of plants and think about the balance between man and nature in a gentle way. This is just like if a person makes a mistake, if the mistake is pointed out by others, the person will be more or less resistant to thinking and correcting the mistake. If the error is discovered by himself, the person will be very active in correcting the error, and he will remember this question deeply. People should take the initiative to contact and understand the contradiction between people and plants, further think about the problems, and finally get their own answers.

 

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Fig.9. Lin Zhu, Plant Sofa, 180cmX110cm,clothes、thread,2020

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In my works, variant shapes and bright warning colors are used. These elements can effectively catch people's attention. Because the images of plants produced by such treatment are no longer the ordinary appearance that you can see everywhere, they are more like intruders of normal living space, which makes you have a sense of incongruity, and you can start to pay attention to them at the moment you see them . In addition, you may ask yourself : "why do they grow up like this?". Some of the works even use the thorn element, which strengthens the protest of plants. At the same time, I would like to emphasize the people's dependence on plants and the feeling of harmony between people and plants. Therefore, instead of choosing hard and cold materials, I chose soft materials in a gentle way to reveal the conflict between people and plants in my understanding, but they are still more dependent on each other. I choose old clothes and fabrics, which have a familiar, intimate feeling and memory flavor, and have a soft nature, to narrow the distance between human and plant image works, and weaken the sense of confrontation between people and plants in contradiction. Therefore, in the display and presentation of the final works, people lie on plants and sit on cactus like spiny chairs. What they feel is not stabbing, but soft healing and support for themselves. Although there are contradictions between them, they warm each other in a very peaceful way. Man and nature should not be fiercely opposed. Nature provides human beings with survival needs and spiritual destination. People should take the initiative to contact nature and deeply interpret the signals transmitted by nature, so as to understand the suffering and crisis of nature. People have built cities in nature, and cities have gradually estranged people from nature. Because people need to contact nature physically and psychologically, people have created artificial nature in cities. In this process, we should not lose our understanding and awe of nature.

 

 

References:

 

Aloi, G. (2019). Why look at plants? : the botanical emergence in contemporary art. Leiden : Brill, p.103.

 

Carter, C., 2013. Garden as Symbol : Nature/city. New Form, 21(3), pp.167-180.

 

Chen, Z., 2016. On the Core of Chinese Traditional Values – The “Unity between Heaven and Man”. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 6(4), pp.282-287.

 

Thoreau, H. and McKibben, B., 2004. Walden. Boston: Beacon Press.

Jellicoe, G. and Jellicoe, S., 1995. The Landscape Of Man. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

Lao, D. and Zhuang, Z., 2014. Lao Zi. Nan jing: Jiangsu feng huang mei shu chu ban she.

Li, J., 2006. Research progress of plant warning color. Acta phytotaxonomy and resources, 28(2), pp.183-193.

 

Li, Y., 2016. The form and meaning of plant patterns in modern logo design. A hundred Proses, p.4.

 

Li, Z., 1999. Three Books On Aesthetics. Anhui: Literature and Art Publishing House.

 

Mielby, H., Sandøe, P. and Lassen, J., 2013. Multiple aspects of unnaturalness: are cisgenic crops perceived as being more natural and more acceptable than transgenic crops?. Agriculture and Human Values, 30(3), pp.471-480.

 

Humphreys, A., Govaerts, R., Ficinski, S., Nic Lughadha, E. and Vorontsova, M., 2019. Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(7), pp.1043-1047.

 

Rhs.org.uk.2020.[online]Availableat:<https://www.rhs.org.uk/digital-collections/making-chelsea> [Accessed 23 August 2020].

 

Van Eck, X. and Taylor, P., 1996. Dutch Flower Painting 1600-1720. Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, 24(1), p.81.

 

Zhuang, Z. and Ma, M., 2003. Zhuang Zi. Tai zhong shi: Chang tan guo ji wen hua.

 

 

Bibliography：

 

Christophermarley.com. 2020. CHRISTOPHER MARLEY. [online] Available at: <https://christophermarley.com/> [Accessed 24 August 2020].

 

Mancuso, S., Viola, A., Benham, J. and Pollan, M., 2015. Brilliant Green. Washington [etc.]: Island Press.

 

Gramlich-Oka, B., 2006. Thinking Like A Man. Leiden: Brill.

 

Rhs.org.uk.2020.[online]Availableat:<https://www.rhs.org.uk/digital-collections/making-chelsea> [Accessed 23 August 2020].

 

Tamarakostianovsky.com. 2020. Tamara Kostianovsky. [online] Available at: <https://tamarakostianovsky.com/home.html> [Accessed 24 August 2020].