The Garden

 

Isn't this beautiful? I felt like a real videographer when I compiled these clips together. Alone, they feel sort of random but they feel cinematic together!

The gif is relevant, I swear! I woke up at 7:06 in the morning and I decided to draw after replying to a student's email. For background noise, I put on the talk, "People, Plants and Pleasure: A Conversation with Zheng Bo" from The Huntington, and I was surprisingly inspired by it. 

I originally clicked on it because it's a relatively shorter talk, and the fact that it has a Chinese speaker, but I walked away with some ideas that I think are interesting. Let's talk about it!

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Returning to what our ancestors have always done.

At the start-ish, Philip Bloom asked if their practice helped them connect better with nature. The idea of ci gong seems to be very self-oriented, while Bloom noticed "energy-exchange practice with the environment" in he way Zheng practices it (8:54). 

In response, Zheng shared that they aren't doing anything new, that they're "returning to [their] origin" when the practice started hundreds of years ago, where ancestors did things in nature, plants and animals (9:10). 

I wonder about how accurate the ancestor part is. It could easily be turned into nostalgia bait where we romanticise the past as a 'pre-paradise' because we don't know how it felt back then.

However, I do agree with the point that a connection with nature should be normalised in our urban spaces and lifestyle. They say there's 'bad energy' in urban spaces, where the Los Angeles air smells bad, for example, and to return to the garden, to nature, is a restoration of what life should be. 

There should be spaces and times carved out in daily life that encourage people to step away from the grind of everyday living, of being so immersed in the stresses of the urban environment. Capitalism, one's job, heck, even the not-very-pretty landscape. I love the trees that furnish Singapore's landscape. They add character and give me something nice to look at, even if only in the background.

Whenever I go on walks, I try to notice the little things in nature. The flower, the leaf, or if I'm lucky, the cute bird and butterfly. It's not much in our built environment, but it's a good reminder to look away from the things that tie us down in daily urban life and breathe in the fresh air. Perhaps this is what life is supposed to be, but it feels more like a chore to pull oneself away from work or a luxury of time.

I thought Zheng's idea of an 'ideal life' of running through a forest naked is hilarious but also valid. That sort of freedom is so impossible today that it can only be described as 'silly' or even 'crude'.

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Drawing plants.

On and off, Zheng talks about the act of drawing nature. 

They talk about a big project they did where they visited a story of a great thinker in the Ming dynasty who went mad in a bamboo field. They grew bamboo in big square-shaped pots and encouraged people to draw bamboo leaves. After that, they took the drawings to compost them, sort of to return them to the earth.

Then, later in the talk, they talked about the habit of drawing. While they're interested in drawing fish, they still talk about plants, citing that plants are everywhere, including the desert.

It seemed serendipitous that at the time, I was working on the background of a drawing I've been fond of for a while now. It's a scene of apples in the middle of an apple field. I plan to add more grass blades next to the apples but there's this vague sense of connection like, 'Look at me! I'm doing the thing too!'

I finished the background while listening to that wonderful talk!

I just thought that was a fun coincidence. 

At any rate, later that day, I went on a walk as part of my routine. I sent an email to my professor about an essay, with a slight tinge of irony and embarrassment, as I'm a TA who has to answer such emails from students, and now I'm panicking over whether he'll reply. 

I'm anxious over whether it's appropriate to approach him in person to say, 'Hey I sent you an email about my essay, have you seen it?' I think it's rude, but at the same time, I need to know! Anyway, it's a bit forward and passive-aggressive, but objectively, it's not rude, especially if I'm not blunt about it. 

Anyway, I'm stressed about the ethics of that, and so I took a walk. Outside, I felt how hot the sun was, I saw the way the light creates bright, almost dreamlike rimlighting on leaves, and I saw a cool bird in the drain. Nature is truly a beautiful thing. It drew me out of my hazy thoughts and made me notice something concrete.

Is this moment in any way related to Zheng's talk? Not really, but I agree that nature is inspiring. It heals my soul and makes me want to draw something new (Una and the lion!).

—

There's a place for everyone.

In my fourth year of university, I read Ian McEwan's Solar, which talks about how dysfunctional eco-friendly initiatives and ideals are. At some point, I remembered a group of artsy-fartsy people who contribute to the climate change process with their art, like ice sculptures. The novel generally criticises people like that for being performative and not actually doing anything meaningful or concrete. 

In a way, I kind of agree. Zheng's work doesn't immediately lead to direct policy changes, and it might look a bit silly. However, I don't think that's the point.

I think it's great that people like Zheng exist and are given a platform. People with interesting backgrounds, ideas about the world and crafts they dedicate their lives to. They take up space in such a meaningful and inspiring way. They remind me to be more ambitious with my own platforms, no matter how small and my art, no matter how sloppy. 

It's also nice to hear what he has to say about life. Yes, naked-running-through-the-forest aside, Zheng mentions that people should spend more time in the garden, take a nap in it, do a drawing, such that the garden "will feel more part of our living experience and not just an object."

Just last night, I was worried about whether I'll find a job, about whether I'll find happiness in a corporate life. I worry a lot, clearly. In that vein, Zheng's words hit just right. There's truly more to life than just the worries I have in my head. 

I can see the sunlight, touch a chewed-out leaf hanging off a branch or draw a little. Or better yet, I can take the time to watch an insightful talk and think, "Wow, I'm so smart!"

Enjoy the same gif but in its original 9:16 aspect ratio. I used this gif on my personal art website in the 'About' page.  I think it adds a lot of character and colour. Truly delightful.

So yes, those are my reflections. Call it a happy accident that I found this talk at the time that I did. I hope to do more reflections as time goes on.