A Thousand Forms, One Nature Series explores the fluid intersection between material agency, natural cycles, and spatial interconnectedness. This mixed-media exhibition examines how organic and synthetic materials interact, degrade, and transform over time, questioning the boundaries between solidity and transience. Inspired by Michel Serres’ assertion that “A thousand cultures, one nature,” this exhibition reflects on how nature endures beyond human fragmentation, illuminating universality, change, and the unseen forces that shape our world.

The works in this exhibition create a dynamic interplay of suspended fragments, gestural forms, and flow networks through a combination of printmaking techniques, painting, and hand-drawn elements. The tension between hard and soft edges reflects my engagement with Taoist principles of zi ran (self-production) and Bruno Latour’s critique of the human-nature divide. By layering organic textures and structural patterns, these works evoke the rhythms of nature—from cellular formations to shifting landscapes—capturing both ephemerality and continuity.

The mixed media paintings, such as Under the Veil, Whispering Stillness, and Motionless, examine materiality, impermanence, and the entangled relationship between nature and social structures. Inspired by 17th-century scientific illustrations, these pieces investigate the intersections of observation, documentation, and shifting environmental realities. Repeated structures and organic motifs reflect the artist’s fascination with patterns that emerge across micro and macro scales, revealing nature’s intrinsic order within apparent chaos.

Ultimately, A Thousand Forms, One Nature invites viewers to reconsider their relationship with materiality and the environment. It prompts reflection on how natural and synthetic worlds interact, how forms persist through cycles of change, and how, despite human-made divisions, we remain connected to a singular, evolving nature.

– Yuan Wen 2025