THE RHAPSODY OF NÜWA
How can lessons from Chinese mythology shape our future?
“The Rhapsody of Nüwa” is a series that uses insights from Chinese mythology to respond to our present-day climate crisis.
The Myth: In 女娲補天 or “Nüwa Mends the Sky,” the world teeters on the brink of collapse as the four pillars that hold up the heavens begin to crumble and a gaping hole rips across the sky. Catastrophe begins to overwhelm the earth and all its living beings. While other members of the pantheon look on helplessly (or take part in fueling fires and floods), Nüwa uses her power of creation to counter the destruction. She patches the hole in the sky using a mixture of five-colored stones, each representing the five elements: Red – Fire, Yellow – Earth, Green – Wood, Black – Water, and White – Metal. She uses the four legs of an ancient creature (the giant turtle named “Ao”) to bolster the heavens; however, the legs are of different lengths and the repaired world lives on at a tilt. Due to Nüwa’s resourcefulness, the calamities finally recede and life on earth thrives into the future.
Nüwa is one of the Mother goddesses in Chinese mythology and considered the creator of humanity. Empress. Legendary artist.
A “rhapsody” in music is a composition that features fragments of distinctive elements (highly contrasted) and captures a sense spontaneity.
Interpretation: It is Nüwa’s creativity in concert with her compassion that sustained the world. I see the earth after Nüwa’s remedy as a rhapsody: a tapestry of sublime flaws and marked resilience. Her story reminds us that a better world need not be a perfect one. What is most important is that we do the best in using our individual capabilities to nurture the land and communities around us.
In creating the artwork for this series, I envision myself as Nüwa. I hand-mixed oil paints (natural earth pigments + walnut oil) that represent the five elements and created landscapes teetering between hope and doom.
