Nature Pious Treat
Nature has 9 definitions. The external world in its entirety; natural scenery; humankind's original or natural condition; a creative and controlling force in the universe (inner force)
Pious has 5 definitions. Marked by or showing reverence for deity and devotion to divine worship(conspicuous religiosity); Sacred or devotional as distinct from the profane(unclean ritually impure) or secular: Religious; showing loyal reverence for a person or a thing.
Treat is to behave toward or deal with a certain way; give medical care or attention to try to heal or cure.
In real life, I did not see someone pray to nature. All I found on the internet is to pray to God and the whole world. "Treat gods with a pious heart, and treat nature with a harmonious heart." This sentence is everywhere on the Chinese internet and in readings. But why do people not have a pious heart for nature?
During the summer vacation, I watched a horror movie called "Incantation." It talks about how people were being affected because they pissed off ghosts. People suffered terrible bad luck, and the growth structure of children began to be disordered. That is the first visual scene for me to feel nature's power. The film uses a lot of elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, Tantra, and Taoism. They also made up handprints, incantations and spell symbols to scare the audiences. Not only the movie gave me inspiration for my artwork, but I also went to salt lake city's cathedral, the Cathedral of Madeleine. It was my first time entering a cathedral, and I saw how people piously sang, "Lord, you give the Great Commission." The holy scene will never come out of my brain. In a splendid church, everyone is preoccupied with only one thing: praying for the gods' blessing. This scene was so shocking to me. As an atheist, I have never seen such a religious picture. I started to study the meaning of folded hands (Añjali Mudrā). In movies and church, I see people putting their hands together. I found that to be prayers, gestures of thanks, requests, greetings, and expressions of hope, praise, gratitude, reverence, and respect. So, I thought of using this gesture to represent my devotion to nature.
On the other hand, climate change is a huge problem in the world now. Wildfires in California are more frequent, and I can always see the mountains have smoked. When I went to the nearest wildfire place on the freeway to Sacramento, there were many trees, and the soil burned and became black. That was a rainy day, and the smells of raindrops and burned soil came simultaneously to my nose. That is an unforgettable odor. So, in my show, I also include the smell of smoke for the audience to feel the sad odor. Also, I saw Yellowstone's traumatic scene, where the trees fell because of the flood. I did not see the animals in Yellowstone Park; they hide from humans. Are they recognize humans destroyed their habitat?
My main artwork is about visualizing nature as praying to humans. And in the show, audiences may use Chinese incense to pray the "nature." The two-way relationship is about when humans treat nature piously; nature will protect humans.
All things in the world will interact and affect each other. Please treat nature piously.
