Ying Xu
Mending
Mending in the context of social and cultural significance carries symbolic and metaphorical meanings.
The act of mending is a preservation of tradition, it represent a connection to the past, it closely associated with sustainability and Environmentalism.
Few years ago I started my art project Mending As A Manner, the whole concept is by using the traditional Japanese mending technique known as Sashiko to repair and preserve the organic objects like fruits, flowers. After the fruits are eaten and the flowers wither, instead of throw them into the trash can, I wash them carefully and sew the pieces together bit by bit with thread to restore them to their original shape. The action symbolize care, as well as resilience and the ability to overcome challenges.
Mending broken items or even relationships is a metaphor for healing in the face of adversity, is a metaphor for personal growth, as people can mend physical demages, people can mend their flaws and mistakes over time.
All thoese years, through the meanding practices, I became so awared about the transient nature of all things, nothing is permanent, and this impermanece is an essential part of life. I find beauty in the geniune and unaltered state of things, I leant the acceptance, the acceptance of things as they are.
The Restricted Nature- I
Day 1
Orchideen, rote Faden, 2019
Day 3
Orchideen, rote Faden, 2019
Day 26
Orchideen, rote Faden, 2019
The Restricted Nature - II
Day 1
Blume, rote Faden, 2019
Day 2
Blume, rote Faden, 2019
The Restricted Nature - III
Orchideen, rote Faden, 2020
The Restricted nature - III
Orchideen, rote Faden, 2020
I Am In You
Orchideen, rote Faden, 2020
Wo und - Wound
Grüne Anthurie, rote Faden,2022
Wo und - Wound
Grüne Anthurie, rote Faden, 2022
Rosa Anthurien, rote Faden, 2021
" When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. "
— Georgia O' Keefe
Surgery
Plastic Surgery-I
Avocado Haut, rote Faden,2021
Plastic Surgery-III
Avocado Haut, rote Faden, 2022
Plastic Surgery-I
Feige , rote Faden, 2020
Scar
There is no two scars are identical, neither are the stories behind them. Everyone goes through tough times, everyone has trauma, nature isn’t perfect and neither are we, the opposites complement each other as part of a process that flows and makes become one into another. As it happens with our bodies, a scar is a reminder of an experience, a story that, instead of being hidden, should be known and embrace because it adds value to the object, making it unique.
SCAR - I 2021
Ceverlat Haut, rote Faden
SCAR - II 2021
Ceverlat Haut, rote Faden
Since I've started my mending projects, I started to observing things in different ways, to pay a greater attention to the very modest and imperfect objects, to see the beauty of it. To accept and to appreciate it's own state, and to rethink about myself.
“合”（hé）in the Chinese traditional cultural , it symbolizes reunion, happiness and togetherness. Can embroidering the word "合" on a cut and eaten tangerine change its already damaged nature?
Mending - keeping 2021
Mandarine , rote Faden
Mending - keeping 2021
Mandarine , rote Faden
Mending on the move
I created this work during the time when I and my family visited São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa. The exotic flower Etlingeria Elatior( also called Porcelain Rose) is the symbol of the country, it is commonly found in the forest, and popular for decoration, but for me, it has something more than just a decoration. Surounded by the infinite vitality of nature, watching the flowers blooming and fading, suddenly I felt an inexpicable sadness.
A desire of protecting and sealing up that kind of beauty and frangibility arised, I carefully stitched up the petals and kept it until the last day of our trip, then I gently unravel the stitched petals and open it one by one, it returned to the state colse to the beginning.
Mending-Keeping
2019,São Tomé und Príncipe
Blume, Blauer Faden