“In Chinese Medicine, the ren channel nourishes Essences and Qi, benefits menstruation and the uterus, and maintains health. But all the energy, time, effort I put in, what is left for me in the end? I was told it was a gift, but it’s just a nagging reminder of a fate I never wanted. I never asked to tend to this garden.” — Isabel Lu
About the artist
Isabel Lu
American
Isabel Lu, MPH, RD, is an artist and researcher based in North Carolina. Their work unpacks binary ideas of medicine, remedy, and care. Painting, writing, and practicing herbalism move together as a meditative process, echoing the interdependence between the physical and spiritual, rest and action, past and future. Inspired by Western and Chinese frameworks of wellbeing, they combine portraiture with silly yet meaningful symbols from medicine, architecture, and mythology; Yin & Yang–misinterpreted as female and male–reflects a fluid balance of shadow/sunlight, water/fire, intuition/logic; the five elements–fire, wood, water, metal, and earth–correspond to movements, seasons, organs, and emotions across nature; Chinese architectural symbolism honors our reliance on the natural and spiritual world, noting that “heaven is yang, south, and round; Earth is yin, north, and square”. Isabel pairs these opposing, yet complementary elements together, reflecting on a constant shift between turmoil and harmony. They intertwine the physical body with medicinal plants, practices, and beings. To see parts of ourselves within these medicines offers space to find refuge and remedy in our relationship with our surroundings.
