Sacred Lichens – 张钰卿 YUQING ZHANG

2025-ongoing

Since my first visit to the UK in 2024, I noticed that there were many scattered tree trunks with orange lichens on them along the streets, which had peculiar shapes. In January 2025, I traveled to Scotland with my friends and went hiking in the wilds of Sky Island. I discovered that in the snow and ice, many trees were covered with lichens. They resembled miniature plants but were complex symbiotic communities of algae and fungi. I was fascinated by them and used my small microscope to observe their moist and textured surfaces, as well as the cave-like crevices. I brought back a branch with lichens to London, and this was the beginning of this series. At the same time, I was reading‘Patterns in Comparative Religion’ (1996)by Mircea Eliade , studying the sacred patterns of plants, caves, water, etc. in different religions as symbols of life, the sacred, and chaos, and was interested in traditional Chinese paintings. Eventually, I used artificial transparent fabrics, sometimes adopting the composition style of Chinese flower paintings, to paint the small amount of lichens I picked up during my hiking, in order to achieve a stunning visual effect, and to explore topics such as the sacred and fragility, ambiguity and science, nature and artificial objects.Sometimes I combined the hanging paintings with sound installations.

In the next two years, I plan to travel and working in Scotland,UK and Yunnan, China, in order to develop this series.

自2024年第一次来到英国时，我发现街道上有很多散落的附着着橙色地衣的树皮。它们有着奇特的形态。2025年1月，我和朋友去往苏格兰旅行，在天空岛的原野中徒步，发现在冰雪中，很多树上挂满了地衣，它们形似微型的植物，却是复杂的藻菌共生体，我为它们感到着迷，用我的小型显微镜观察它们湿润而有着特殊质感的表面，和山洞一般的缝隙。我带了一根带着地衣的树枝回到伦敦，而这就是这个系列的开始。与此同时，我在阅读伊利亚德的《神圣的存在》，研究不同宗教中植物、洞穴、水等神圣模式（作为生命、神圣与混沌的象征），并对中国传统绘画感兴趣，最终我用很大的人造透明面料，有时采用中国花鸟画的构图方式，绘画我徒步过程中捡拾的少量地衣，以达到震撼的视觉效果，以探讨神圣与脆弱、模糊与科学、自然与人造物等话题。有时我也会将这些悬挂的面料与声音装置结合。

我在未来两年中计划在英国苏格兰与中国云南旅行和创作，以继续发展这个话题。

Branch in a temple(II),276*175cm,acrylic on fabric,© Yuqing Zhang(张钰卿) 2026 in the Group exhibition“Space of Becoming”,Jinhua,Zhejiang,exhibition date:18 February-10th March 2026.

《圣所里的一根树圣所里的一根树枝(二)》，276*175cm，布面丙烯，©️张钰卿 2026 在群展《生长的空间》，浙江金华,展览时间2026年2月18日-3月10日

Branch in a temple,531*281cm,acrylic on fabric,© Yuqing Zhang(张钰卿) 2025 In “Postgraduate show”,Camberwell College of Arts（University of the Arts London),45-65 Peckham Road,London SE5 8UF

《圣所里的一根树枝》531*281cm,布面丙烯,© 张钰卿 2025,在 “Postgraduate show” 坎伯韦尔艺术学院,45-65 Peckham Road,London SE5 8UF

Evernia Prunastri in the rain,151.5*230.5cm,acrylic on fabric,© Yuqing Zhang(张钰卿）2026 hanging edition,in the Group exhibition“Space of Becoming”,Jinhua,Zhejiang,exhibition date:18 February-10th March 2026.

《雨中的Evernia Prunastri》，151.5*230.5cm，布面丙烯，©️张钰卿 2026 悬挂版本，在群展《生长的空间》，浙江金华,展览时间2026年2月18日-3月10日

Evernia Prunastri in the rain,151.5*230.5cm,acrylic on fabric,with interactive sound edition(When the audience get close to the work, there would be 15 seconds sound of rain recorded by me ),© Yuqing Zhang(张钰卿）2025 on pop-up show,First floor corridor at 1 Wilson Rd, London SE5 8LU&A to B gallery at 45-65 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8UF

《雨中的Evernia Prunastri》，151.5*230.5cm,布面丙烯，互动声音版本（当观众靠近时会响起15秒我录制的雨声）©张钰卿 2025 在pop-up show, 1 Wilson Rd, London SE5 8LU&A to B gallery at 45-65 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8UF