China News Service, Pu'er, May 22nd: "Tea Tree's Circle of Friends - Forest Biodiversity Community" art exhibition was held in Pu'er
Author Xie Ying
Specimens of tea trees "grew" in the air, and visitors shuttled between the roots; a huge white cloth was spread on the ground, and it was covered with leaves of different shapes... On May 22, the International Biodiversity Sex Day is also the seventh day of the "Tea Tree Friends Circle - Forest Biodiversity Community" art exhibition held in Pu'er College.
Yunnan is the center of the origin of tea trees in the world. It has an ancient tea area with a history of more than 1,700 years. There are still 3,200 hectares of ancient tea trees cultivated for more than 100 years and many large-scale wild-type large tea tree populations. It is recognized by the world as one of the birthplaces of Pu'er tea. one.
Pu'er is one of the core distribution areas of Pu'er tea, and the ancient tea forest in Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er has become my country's 2022 World Cultural Heritage Application Project.
"It's meaningful to have an exhibition at Pu'er College, but on the other hand, I also had some concerns," said participating artist Zi Bai, "Now it's inconvenient for people outside to enter the school, I'm afraid there are very few visitors, But I didn’t expect that, for almost a week, there are many teachers and students here every day. The exhibition covers the fields of art and science, so students of different majors will interpret these exhibits from different perspectives.”
Photo by Mu Lingling at the exhibition site
On the wall of the exhibition hall, there is a painting that is as tall as one person. This is the museum painting of the same name as the art exhibition - the circle of friends of the tea tree.
The roots in the soil and the meridians on the leaves are all outlined by Zibai's delicate brushstrokes.
"Look carefully," Zi Bai introduced, "the insects on the branches and under the soil, the weeds on the side of the tree, these are the friends of the tea tree. We usually easily notice the circle of friends of the tea tree in the open state. , is the surface part, but will ignore its hidden circle of friends, such as microorganisms in the soil, soil composition, etc. And the tea aroma we taste is actually a small ecological environment surrounding the tea tree. The fruit of the tall deciduous tree falls into the soil and decays under the action of microorganisms and becomes the nutrition of the tea tree. The fragrance of flowers, minerals and inorganic salts in the soil brought by insect pollination all increase the taste of tea layering.”
Zi Bai is a native of Xishuangbanna. He grew up in the Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He followed his parents to sample and do research. Although he did not inherit the mantle of his elders and became a botanist, he has always paid tribute to his childhood by interpreting science with art. .
Hanging the tea tree specimen in the air is Zibai's idea to show the underground part of the tea tree.
Sexual reproduction, that is, tea trees planted by tea seeds, and asexual reproduction, that is, cutting tea trees, the surface part looks almost the same, but the underground root system is very different - the former has a thick taproot almost as high as the trunk, while the latter has only The roots are about 40 cm long, which leads to obvious differences in the nutrients they absorb, and the taste will naturally be greatly affected.
Zi Bai brought a few visitors to a banner museum painting. This work titled "The Utopia of a Tea Tree" shows a larger picture of the tea garden.
Zibai said that he spent 6 years, after numerous field investigations, climbed under trees, stood on the slanting pole for picking tea, took 10,000 pictures, visited tea farmers, tea people, Scientists, naturalists, and botanists paint this real scene with the utmost sincerity.
The painting also conveys Zi Bai's inner values: "In an ideal tea garden ecosystem, everything is connected and connected, which is also the vision of many people for an ideal human world."
The picture shows Zibai's tea tree specimen installation work
In another area of the exhibition hall, a row of thin cloth is hung with silk threads - this is the work of another exhibitor of the art exhibition, Hong Yan, who is Zi Bai's wife.
"We have lived and made art together for so many years, and this is the first time we have jointly held an exhibition." Hong Yan said.
One hundred colors represent one hundred faces of nature.
These different colors are all plant dyeing works of Hongyan using leaves as raw materials.
Eight years ago, Hongyan from Beijing came to Xishuangbanna to settle down.
She and Zibai often go deep into the surrounding mountains together. For her, this is a move from the city to the forest.
How to take what he sees and feel in nature out of the forest and share it with more people is Hongyan's long-standing exploration in artistic expression.
In addition to using leaves for plant dyeing, "rubbing forest" is another of her attempts.
In the past three years, in the process of going to the forest to collect wind, the geese often carry a ten-meter-long white cloth with them, from Jinuo Mountain to Jingmai Mountain to Gelanghe, whenever they see beautiful or distinctive leaves, Hongyan will take out a hammer, unfold the canvas, and leave the shape and color of the leaves on the canvas by "rubbing".
"It has become my habit to hammer wherever I go." Hong Yan said with a smile, "rubbing is an ancient skill. The life cycle of a leaf is only one year, and in this way, I make their life possible. Continuation. Although this work was exhibited for the first time in a formal exhibition hall, every time it was spread out in nature before, I felt that it was completing a very ceremonial expression.”
The picture shows Zibai introducing the works of Mu Lingling to the exhibitors
Today, the canvas has been covered with different leaves, which record the footprints of the geese.
In the future, she will find new languages to tell stories about nature.
On the side of Zibai's two large paintings, there are some hand-painted sketches - a flower, a cicada, a grass... He "invited" all the friends of the tea tree one by one and made a painting by himself.
"The circle of friends of tea tree is endless, I will continue to draw." Zi Bai said.
(Finish)