Artist Name: Yixin Zhang
Title: Decay
Medium: Snow fungus, India Ink, pearls
Year: 2020
Artist Statement:
The pandemic is a humans’ disaster but nature’s healing time. Pollution has decreased during the pandemic because of the economic stagnation, but damages that humans bring to nature are irreparable. I designed this artwork to represent that while heavily damaged nature healing during the humans’ disaster-like period, the scars will still be there. Humans’ unlimited requests from the environment will never stop even after the pandemic. After a long time of quarantine, people might realize that nature is the most beautiful thing in their lives. It is time to let nature take a breath.
I used Snow fungus as my primary material. The whiteness of Snow fungus has high contrast against the dark, decaying logs it grows upon. I used the Snow fungus as the metaphor for the hopes and positive turn of the decaying nature; the texture and black ink represent the destruction of nature and the greed of humans, which is still spreading. The pearls symbolize the efforts that humans made to protect nature; humans desire swallowing Mother Nature, but there is still hope.