Another Orchids
Junzi (君子)
Selected Images From Junzi, 2025
In the classical Chinese literati tradition, the orchid symbolizes the virtues of the Junzi (君子: the noble, exemplary "Gentleman" in Confucian thought, historically defined and celebrated by male literati) and often appears in poetry and painting. This photographic project reconfigures the classical image of the ink orchid, overlaying traditional symbolism onto the contemporary queer body. Dialogue and exchange with the subjects are a central part of the process.
The subject is one person I met through the queer dating app, and I photographed him with permission. The captions beneath the photos capture stories from our conversations that stayed with me.
Public Program
定製屬於你的墨蘭圖
Grow Your Own Ink Orchid upon the Body
The workshop was presented as part of the public programme of the exhibition Youth Palace at the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai.
Grow Your Own Ink Orchid on the Body is a body painting workshop that explores the orchid as a medium of connection, imagination, and self-expression. Beginning with the orchid’s biological diversity and cultural symbolism, the workshop invites participants to reconsider this plant, which has long been associated with ideals such as the “junzi” (君子, the noble person) and refined elegance in Chinese culture, and to create their own orchid through ink and brush.
During the creative process, participants first imagined and designed their own forms of orchids, before bringing them onto their bodies.
The body was no longer merely a surface for displaying an image, but became a landscape where orchids could grow, mutate, and communicate.
Some participants invited me to paint orchids on their bodies; others collaborated with friends, while some created orchids collectively through the gestures of multiple people, generating symbiotic orchids that could not be attributed to a single author.
Interestingly, throughout the process, orchids gradually escaped the limitations of their conventional forms. Participants incorporated personal memories, imagination, and cultural symbols into their creations, giving rise to new species such as “Peppa Pig Orchid” and “Mouse Orchid.” These orchids no longer pursued botanical accuracy, but instead generated a new orchid lineage between the body and imagination.
The “Ink Orchid Image” (Mo Lan Tu, 墨兰图) thus became more than a representation of an orchid. It became a practice of exploring identity, relationships, and processes of becoming. Each orchid growing upon the body becomes a unique proposition of life.
Here, the orchid is no longer a fixed symbol, but an ongoing process of becoming.
