Human and Nature: Turning Conflict into Harmony
Curated by Tzu-Ying (Naomi) Chan
Artists: Tatiana Arocha, Shuyi Cao, Ming-Jer Kuo, and Kazumi Tanaka
April 13 – 27, 2023
The exhibition brings together a selection of the four artists’ wide-ranging works in sculpture, photography, installation, and printing that explore humanity’s relationship with the surrounding natural world. The artists in this exhibition represent their observation and encounter with the environments among lands, plants, animals, and suburban areas, to address how nature is essential to us, and suggest how humans might begin to restore the bonds that have been broken.
The visual artist Tatiana Arocha’s series of digital paintings on canvas with gold acrylic paint emphasizes humankind's impact on the rainforest in Columbia to show the importance of protecting our land and natural resources in order for life to thrive. The mixed-media artist Shuyi Cao presents a microcosmic view of the planet, reflecting on the interconnection of all world systems through the use of organic and inorganic materials. Cao’s work includes several miniatures; each miniature depicts a microcosm of how human and non-human elements intertwine. The artist Ming-Jer Kuo's background as an environmental engineer has led him to observe urban systems. His street photography depicts how trees grow organically in Taipei City, Taiwan. Moreover, his sculptural installations reveal the overlap between suburban areas and the natural world. The multidisciplinary artist Kazumi Tanaka’s body of work features tiny musical instruments incorporating numerous animal remains. By slowly transforming the animal remains into functional instruments, she presents the remains' life beyond the animal’s death and gives these found natural elements a voice to be heard again.
These four artists’ aesthetic sensibilities express how humanity and nature interact with each other. They are concerned with raising awareness of how humans relate to natural environments—to respect, restore, and repair the natural world.