Red Fire, Blue Flower

In traditional Chinese medicine, rosemary is used to tonify Yang, restoring the harmony of opposing Yin and Yang energies within the body. Under the philosophy that everything in the world, including our organs, is a balanced composition of fire, water, metal, earth, and wood, natural ingredients have always been seen as the best remedies by Chinese families. Mine is no exception.

When I broached the idea of exploring therapy and potential medication to my mom, she said, "Just drink some jasmine tea." While the tea has not helped, art has. Artmaking has always been a therapeutic process for me; I hold conviction in it as much as my culture does in its medicinal flora.

This diptych is an homage to that process, as I print healing herbs onto fragile figures, applying their oils and aromas to invisible wounds with the pressure of the press. It is a visualization of restoration through the creative act and a lasting imprint of a transient therapy that surpasses temporality. Giving me balance like that of fire and water, artmaking affords me stability that I find nowhere else in life – it makes me whole.