Flora of formosa

During his time experimenting with handmade paper at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, the artist immersed himself in countless specimen archives. Each specimen was mounted on a standardized backing board — the “mounting paper” — yet within that uniform format, the artist discerned traces of individuality: the personality, aesthetic sensibility, and even silent gestures of each botanist toward future viewers.

Drawing inspiration from this archival form, the artist adopted the structure of the mounting paper and combined watermark handmade papers featuring botanical and zoological imagery, placing them within an entomological specimen box. The result is an artistic specimen that unites diverse forms of life — plants, animals, and insects — into a single collection. It stands as both an homage and a response to the scientists of the past, an expression of the artist’s own search for meaning, and an invitation to imagine new possibilities for the generations to come.