Compendium of Materia Medica, II, Shi Hui, "The Section of Experimental Art at the 27th National Art Exhibition"

In 1980s, the artist, inspired by the traditional papermaking in Fuyang, Zhejiang, has been using the pulp of rice paper as the main language of her art. Her works combine inspirations from delicate Southern daily life, her sensible feelings, and continuous handmade labor.
In this series, the artist is inspired by the philosophical principle of traditional Chinese medicine: to take everything from the nature and keep a harmonious relationship with nature, a simple and mysterious concept in traditional Chinese culture. The artist immerses dried plants in the paper pulp, and pours the pulp onto barbed wires. As the liquid dries up, dried plants are sealed inside like white and poetic ambers. The barbed wires can be viewed symbolically as the internal path of the nature, a garden fabricated in the utopian future, or a wild filed with pulp as traces of while snow fallen onto the field. The dried grasses, and wild flowers have become eternal symbols of nature in the artist’s thoughts and emotions. These white sights resemble vague traces blown in wind, or handwritten poems with memories sealed inside, and their light appearances express tranquility and Zen.