The Metamorphosis 形变记
4'30''
Full Film: https://vimeo.com/1150460473?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci#t=81
2022
Metamorphosis is an experimental ink animation created over the course of a year, comprising 1,178,000 individual ink paintings. This work explores the intricate relationship between humanity and nature, drawing inspiration from Zhuangzi’s philosophy: "To follow the natural order, relinquish rigid self-attachment, and achieve harmony with all things." Set within a dreamscape, the narrative follows the metamorphic exchange of identities between a human, a flower, and a caterpillar, allowing them to experience one another’s joy, sorrow, and fear. This transformation dissolves the boundaries of individuality, enabling a perception of existence through multiple life forms. By employing modern technology to emulate the fluidity and unpredictability of ink painting, I reflect on the paradox of human ambition to exert absolute control over nature. This work serves as an invitation to relinquish self-attachment, experience the interconnectedness of all things, and reconsider humanity’s place within the natural world. In an era of relentless acceleration and intervention, can we still rediscover a way to coexist with nature?
This story is based on Chuang Tzu's argument that "we should follow nature to break free of stubborn self-obsessions and the separation of everything from myself, thus living in harmony with nature."
这个故事取材于庄子的论点：“我们应该顺应自然，摆脱固执的自我迷恋和万物与我的分离，从而与自然和谐相处”。
Chinese landscape painting Visually, my work draws from the spatial philosophy of traditional Chinese landscape painting, rejecting linear perspective in favor of an expansive, fluid composition. Inspired by Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains, I juxtapose sharp angular mountain forms with soft rounded ones, evoking the duality of nature’s essence and its timeless symbolism.
在画面语言上，我深受中国山水画的影响。中国山水画强调自由流动的空间观念，不受时间与视点的限制，描绘的是事物的本质。例如，在表现远处山体时，我借鉴了《鹊华秋色图》的表现手法——一座山是尖锐的三角形，另一座是浑圆的形态，它们并置于同一画面之中，展现自然本质的永恒象征。这种非线性、无固定视角的构图方式，也呼应了《形变记》中身份流动与界限模糊的主题。
