Lin Kuan-Yin: Botanical Phantoms

Planting greenery in the city is a small yet resilient gesture.

From doorways, balconies, windowsills, and staircases to the far corners of rooftops, these plants shape a natural choreography within the urban landscape. During the pandemic, such spaces were reevaluated and reclaimed-plant shadows became the quietest and most faithful companions in everyday life. Greenery was no longer mere decoration; it became a means of remaining connected to the real world.

Botanical Phantoms continues this way of seeing, portraying the form and texture of staghorn ferns through the medium of relief sculpture. This sculptural form, suspended between two and three dimensions, has historically served as a narrative device on walls-carrying memory, allegory, and the passage of time. Here, it is transformed into an instrument of contemplation, inviting viewers to gaze at the contours, patterns, and subtle atmospheres of plants as they slowly diffuse through the air.

Some works incorporate old dismantled window frames as structural bases. The window, as both a spatial plane and a language of viewing, defines boundaries between inside and outside, between imagination and reality. Through these semi-transparent frames, the plants in relief become both subjects of observation and vessels for emotional projection. Under lighting, the sculptural forms emerge with shifting depths and layers, creating a quiet but dynamic spatial rhythm-light itself seemingly becoming part of the work.

Rather than aiming for grand narratives, Lin Kuan-Yin's solo exhibition extends time and amplifies the senses, focusing on the intimate, micro-level experiences of living with plants. It is both a record of botanical presence and a fleeting trace of inner transformations through time and space. Within stillness, the viewer senses motion; within gaze, one experiences the wind, freely passing through.