Extinction message in artist Zheng Bo’s floral exhibition – ‘We need to learn how to live with other species,’ he says
- We have got to stop seeing the world from a human-first perspective, the artist argues, or the mass extinction event under way in nature will wipe us out too
- Amid a lush tropical garden, he has trained ferns and orchids that grow wild in Hong Kong around bamboo frames that literally spell out his exhibition’s title
When Hong Kong’s Covid-19 restrictions are eased and you can visit Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden’s Walter Kerr Garden in Tai Po, go slowly. Some of the flower signs created by artist Zheng Bo are easily overlooked amid the verdant, tropical lushness of the garden, which has been left undiminished by a month of exceptionally low rainfall.
Each sign is a bamboo frame with ferns and flowering orchids attached to form a word in English, and if you catch them all, you will see that they form the name of the art project: “Life is hard. Why do we make it so easy?” Over time, the plants will spread, propagate and be absorbed into the surrounding forest.
So, too, might humankind. The destructive power of the Covid-19 virus has reinforced the arguments of those, like Zheng, who believe we are in the middle of an “anthropocene extinction” event. Human activities have made such an impact on the earth’s climate and ecosystems that we are pushing ourselves towards extinction, Zheng says, and we have got to stop seeing the world from a human-first perspective.
Inspired by Jandai’s philosophy, Zheng went to Thailand to work with a local group that cultivates orchids and reintroduces them in nature, and made the first edition of the botanical slogans for the 2018 Thailand Biennale, an art event held in Krabi.