Juliet Shen, Ten Thousand Leaves Fell About My Head, 2024, pigment-based inks, watercolor, archival varnish, on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Juliet Shen's work explores the life-affirming transformations she observes in trees and forest ecosystems: regeneration emerging from decay, resilience after injury, mutual dependence, and the absence of waste in natural systems. She understands the cycles of life and death in nature as fundamentally benevolent, and suggests that estrangement from these cycles carries moral consequence. Influenced by traditional Chinese landscape painting, which views nature as a reflection of the human heart, Shen aligns her practice with this philosophy of interconnectedness.
She works with Chinese brushes and ink on paper made from plant fibers. The paper is both strong and highly absorbent, so each mark is permanent, emphasizing the irreversibility of gesture. This material condition echoes her belief that human actions, like brushstrokes, leave lasting effects on the environment. Through this practice, Shen links material process, ecological awareness, and a contemplative observation of nature's cycles.
9th century Chinese poem
Pruning Trees
by Po Chu - I translated by Arthur Waley
Trees growing-right in front of my window;
The trees are high and the leaves grow thick.
Sad alas! the distant mountain view,
Obscured by this, dimly shows between.
One morning I took knife and axe;
With my own hands I lopped the branches off.
Ten thousand leaves fell about my head;
A thousand hills came before my eyes.
Suddenly, as when clouds or mists break
And straight through, the blue sky appears.
Again, like the face of a friend one has loved
Seen at last after an age of parting.
First there came a gentle wind blowing;
One by one the birds flew back to the tree.
To ease my mind I gazed to the South-East;
As my eyes wandered, my thoughts went far away.
Of men there is none that has not some preference;
Of things there is none but mixes good with ill.
It was not that I did not love the tender branches;
But better still-to see the green hills!
