Legends of the Silk Road

Ma Jianghong was captivated by the murals during her trip to Dunhuang Grottoes when she was a freshman in college, and was also amazed by the Kizil murals later.

The inspiration of “how about carving the lost and existing murals on the big gourds unique to Xinjiang” came when she ran into an old man engraving folk art and daily life scene on big gourds in Kashgar Bazaar.

Based on the application of multiple techniques including etching, jade carving, wood carving, etc., as well as her own unique understanding of murals in the Thousand-Buddha Caves of Kizil and the Dunhuang Grottoes, Ma Jianghong has recreated the time-honored culture of murals.

This culture has been displayed with renewed artistic charm in her artworks centering on the Buddhist theme, further discovering and popularizing the Buddhist culture of Xiyu.

In the past three decades, Ma Jianghong has been expressing the art of murals on the medium of gourds, giving free play to her artistic talents based on the integration of the two forms.

With finishing each piece of such murals on gourds, the artist presents the viewers an amazingly fantastic fresco based on her multi-layer illustration and ingenious combination of multiple carving techniques.