APR 2021 | paper cuts – psaligraphy

mountain travel –《山行》shān xíng

It had been over five years since I last visited my home country and relatives in China. I missed the nature I grew up with in Beijing. Weeping willows leaned over lakes in Houhai Park. Pollen was perpetually suspended in dry summer air. I missed the wilder landscapes that brought harsh and gentle elements together.

I’ve always liked traditional Chinese landscape paintings. In Mandarin, they’re called 山水画 (shān shui huà), literally “mountain-water painting”. Mountain Travel is my attempt at one, in a non-traditional medium. It depicts two landscapes: 九寨沟 (jiu zhài gōu) in Sichuan Province, which I’ve visited before; and 张家界 (zhāng jiā jiè) in Hunan Province, which I hope to visit. Both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The terraces of 九寨沟 cascade down the foreground, while the sandstone pillars of 张家界 stand in the background. A Tang Dynasty poem by 杜牧 (dù mù) titled 山行 (shān xíng) dwells in the top left corner.

Mountain Travel is framed in 12in x 15in.