A Drifting Lotus Seed
古莲子漂流
Type
Diagram Assemblage
图表装配
Locale
Macro Scale: East Asia
宏观尺度：东亚大陆
Meso Scale: Herbarium
中观尺度：植物标本
Micro Scale: Plant Cell
微观尺度：植物细胞
Year
2019
The Chinese have admired lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) since ancient times. The therapeutic effect of lotus is highly praised in traditional medicine, and its growth habit of not being stained out of mud has also been sublimated into a literati aesthetic interest. Recent archaeological excavations have supplemented the imagery of lotus, allowing us to understand it from the deeper perspective of botanical history and the more microscopic scale of cell biology.
中国人对莲花 （Nelumbo nucifera） 的推崇自古有之。在传统医学中，莲花的食疗功效被推崇有加，其出淤泥而不染的生长习性也被升华为一种文人式的审美意趣。 新近的考古发掘为莲花意象作了知识层面的补充，让我们能从更久远的植物学历史角度和更微观的细胞生物学尺度认识它。
Based on scientific research materials, this graphic work reassembles this native plant of cultural significance. By tracing the distribution and circulation of an “ancient lotus seed”, different observational scales are opened and closed in the chart. A series of illustrations are drawn with scientific research activities as clues (including field sampling, specimen preparation, gene sequencing and microscopic observation), and the measurement statuses of lotus at macro, meso and micro scales are presented from a drifting perspective. The work presents the lotus in a multi-dimensional observation state in the final form of a triptych.
这件图绘作品在科研资料的基础上重新装配了这一文化性极强的本土植物。通过追踪一颗“古莲子”的分布与流转，不同的观察尺度在图表中被打开再闭合。 一系列图解绘制以科研活动为线索（包括田野采样、标本制作、基因测序与显微观察），并用漂流的视角展现了莲花在宏观、中观与微观尺度下的测定状态。最终，作品以三联画的形式呈现了处于多元观察状态下的莲。
Digital drawing, watercolor paper, acrylic board
56x228cm