What kind of works will artists create when faced with the ecology and environmental waste of Sanjiangyuan?
On April 22, the "Bend Your Head to Pick Up Starlight" public welfare art exhibition was held at the Shanghai START Star Art Museum. This exhibition, with more than 10 environmental art works and two photography sections, connects the ecological ties between the source of the Three Rivers and the source and tail of the Yangtze River, and calls for more awareness of ecological protection through the creation of artists.
The Three Rivers Source, a land known as the "Water Tower of China", delivers nearly 60 billion cubic meters of fresh water to 18 provinces and five countries every year. From the source to the end, it flows into the lives of every Chinese. However, this water source that connects countless rivers and the lives of hundreds of millions of people is now suffering from the problem of garbage, and urgently needs awareness and response from people downstream.
Exhibition View
The reporter from The Paper saw at the scene that the exhibition area on the first floor of the art museum presented works by many artists including Xi Zhinong, Zhu Weijia, Han Lili, Zha Songgang, Tyler Tian, and Mira, who used real environmental figures and stories in Sanjiangyuan as creative prototypes and used recycled garbage as creative materials to create art works.
Among them, artist Zha Songgang's work "Blood Veins of the Earth" uses garbage of mixed materials to restore the unique network of water systems in the Three Rivers Source, showing the magnificence and fragility of the Three Rivers Source. This work with a strong visual impact also warns the viewer: the garbage we discard will eventually devour our lifeblood. Another work "China Water Tower" is composed of thousands of plastic bottles filled with water from the Three Rivers Source, building a water tower symbolizing the source of life. The artist hopes to express that when human containers carry the gifts of nature, it is not only the rivers that spiral upward, but also a symbol of the ecological civilization that is constantly surging upward.
Check out Song Gang's "Blood of the Earth"
Blood Veins of the Earth (detail), showing the texture made of garbage
Artist Mira led local herdsmen to collect garbage and "plant" the "Tree of Rebirth" in Sanjiangyuan. The artist believes that this is not only a piece of art made of garbage, but also a tree of rebirth that carries everyone's belief in environmental protection. In the exhibition, the artist re-wove the "Tree of Rebirth" with garbage, which echoed the work in Sanjiangyuan.
After resigning from her job at a large Internet company, 28-year-old Liu Huohuo became a volunteer in Sanjiangyuan. She spent a month picking up trash along the way. Artist Tian Ye's work "Restoring the Sacred Mountain" is based on Liu Huohuo's story, restoring the magnificent outline of the holy mountains of Sanjiangyuan, while the reflection of the piled up garbage is like an ecological failure, breaking the harmonious texture of nature; Su Ruiheng's work "Fire of Faith" is based on recycling garbage, melting the words and actions of protecting Sanjiangyuan into torches, presenting the image of a bonfire.
(Left) Mira, The Tree of Rebirth
Photographer Xi Zhinong always carries his camera on his back, and is active in the front line of environmental protection, taking many classic images of snow leopards. Artist Cao Lei's "Spirit of Mountains and Rivers" reconstructs the snow leopards captured by Xi Zhinong's lens with discarded garbage, which is a metaphor that the debris of civilization is eroding the habitat of plateau creatures; bird protection expert Zhu Weijia has led a team since 2013 to dismantle 3,276 illegal bird nets, rescue 396 migratory birds, and record precious images of different migratory birds through the lens. Artist Liu Yaoyuan's "Waste Feathers Reborn" uses broken bird nets to weave a group of trapped birds... Here, although the works are expressed in different ways, they all tell the story of protecting the Three Rivers Source, hoping to awaken more people to protect the environment.
Cao Lei: Spirits in Mountains and Rivers
Liu Yaoyuan: Abandoned Feathers and Reborn
On the second floor of the art museum, there is a special unit called “Visual Dialogue from the Source to the End”, which presents precious images taken by wildlife photographer Xi Zhinong in Sanjiangyuan, and visual records of Shanghai bird photographer Zhu Weijia’s ten-year bird protection journey, thus constructing a dialogue of life from the source to the end.
Photographer Xi Zhinong has been using his camera to present the agility and wildness of the Sanjiangyuan for 40 years, bringing attention to the area from around the world. In 1997, Xi Zhinong first reported the crisis of the mass hunting of Tibetan antelopes and the arduous efforts made by the "Wild Yak Team" to protect Tibetan antelopes, which promoted the attention of the public at home and abroad to the ecology of the Sanjiangyuan. Taking this as an opportunity, he started a 28-year-long image cultivation. From 2016 to 2022, Xi Zhinong led herder photographers to shoot snow leopards for 6 years and completed the snow leopard movie "Snow Leopard and Her Friends", using the camera to present the agility and wildness of the Sanjiangyuan.
Tibetan antelope photographed by Xi Zhinong
Snow leopard photographed by Xi Zhinong
At the tail of the Yangtze River, there are bird photography taken by Zhu Weijia. At first, he was a fan of bird photography in the wild. Later, when he found that more and more birds died in bird nets, he established the "Wild Feather Environmental Conservation Volunteer Team" and started his 9-year bird protection journey. From Chongming, Pudong, Songjiang, Qingpu, Fengxian, Jinshan and other places in Shanghai, and gradually expanded to surrounding areas such as Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Huzhou, Suzhou, Zhu Weijia led project volunteers to carry out a series of wild protection patrol activities, dismantling 4,324 bird nets, clearing 523 residual nets, and successfully rescued and released 501 trapped live birds including spotted doves, mountain doves, spotted thrushes, white-bellied thrushes, red-throated thrushes and Oriental scops owls, a national second-level protected animal. In the process, Zhu Weijia also recorded the moments of different birds through the lens. These images are not only a presentation of bird aesthetics, but also a metaphor for the relationship between humans and nature.
Zhu Weijia's bird protection journey
Birds entangled in nets photographed by Zhu Weijia
It is reported that during the exhibition, there will be many hand-made interactive workshops on site to allow visitors to experience the beauty of the natural ecology of Sanjiangyuan and the significance of environmental protection.
During the exhibition, the organizer will hold a number of themed public welfare lectures, including:
On April 23, Xi Zhinong, founder of the "Wild China" studio, published "30 Years of Wild Contract: Photo Stories from Hengduan Mountains to Sanjiangyuan". He shared the moving stories behind the wildlife photos, led the audience to explore the relationship between humans and animals, and issued an initiative to jointly respond to ecological challenges.
On April 26, Shanghai bird conservation photographer Zhu Weijia published "Wings in the Shutter Sound: Shanghai Bird Observation Diary". It tells the changes in the habitats of rare birds in Shanghai from the perspective of a photographer, and shows the significance of environmental protection through the interactive relationship between birds and ecology.
On April 27, Qin Bo, head of the documentary center studio of Shanghai Television Station, shared the story behind the filming of the environmental protection public welfare documentary program "Moving Forward" and discussed how to get more people involved in the actual actions of environmental protection through media publicity.
On April 28, Liao Yiyuan, winner of the "Best Director" award at the Golden Lion International Advertising Film, presented the symbiotic relationship between man and nature through images in the film "The Poetry of Life Images: Using Lenses to Present the Symbiosis of Man and Nature". He led the audience behind the scenes of the filming of the Sanjiangyuan public welfare micro-film, presenting the symbiotic relationship between man and nature through images.
(Note: The exhibition is jointly sponsored by China UnionPay and the Sanjiangyuan Ecological Protection Foundation.)
The exhibition will run until May 4th.
- PnDZCIIUILqNNjX04/23/2025