Common material takes on new and unexpected life amid upheaval of perceptions, Wang Qian reports.

Paper is transformed into marine creatures and installation artworks in the skilled hands of Wen Qiwen. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

In Wen Qiwen's art world, paper can be transformed into everything, from jewelry to sculptures and large-scale installations, and can be brought to life with sound and light. The only limit is your imagination.

"I want to explore the infinite possibilities of paper and overturn people's perceptions about the material," says the 35-year-old artist from Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Like any woman, paper can be both soft and strong, which is extremely versatile.

Wen Qiwen, artist

In her art installation By Flow, Wen wears her handmade paper bikini and swims with hundreds of paper jellyfish.

"In the sea, jellyfish go with the flow, which reflects the relationship between humans and society. No matter how you forge ahead, or struggle, or go with the waves, it is not easy to avoid following the crowd," Wen says, adding that, through the installation, she wants to break the barrier between paper and water.

Wen Qiwen, artist. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

As well as water, Wen keeps trying to combine paper with various media to create fantastic works of visual art.

In Aurora, an interactive paper installation in collaboration with CT Lab, a design company in Guangzhou, the artist has created a forest made of paper in a dark room. When a visitor goes into the installation and touches the top of a tree, the tree lights up. When many visitors do so, the whole forest becomes a light show.

"Through the artwork, I try to raise public awareness of environmental protection. It indicates that we can protect the environment in daily life, such as ordering food delivery less and choosing reusable over single use. If everyone does so, it will make a difference," Wen explains.

(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Her artworks have been exhibited in galleries in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The emerging artist has worked with various companies, including domestic womenswear brand Koradior, sportswear giant Nike from the United States, Spanish ham producer Cinco Jotas and German automaker Volkswagen.

In the poster for the 2021 China International Model Contest, models wear gorgeous paper accessories, from a decoupage necklace and laminated earrings to an upscale brooch, all of which are fashioned by Wen.

She won the InStyle Women InCreation Prize last year, an annual event initiated by US monthly magazine InStyle's Chinese edition to honor and celebrate women's voices in fashion, beauty and pop culture.

"Like any woman, paper can be both soft and strong, which is extremely versatile," Wen says, adding it may be the reason why she is fascinated by the material and its endless potential.

(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

From hobby to career

Fascinated by painting since childhood, Wen grew up in Guangzhou. At around the age of 9, she asked her mother to help her apply for a painting class at a children's activity center, because she wanted to work with pigments.

"At that time, my parents were both civil servants, who didn't know how to make a living through art. They kept telling me that it would be a road marked with difficulties. In their opinion, finding a good husband was a woman's route to happiness," Wen recalls, smiling.

When studying visual communication for her bachelor's degree at South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou in 2008, Wen first found her interest in paper at a book design class.

"The teacher asked us to collect various kinds of paper, which opened my mind about the material. Before the class, I took it as the most common thing in daily life, but the class work expanded my expectation on the medium's potential," Wen says, adding that she then began to use paper in her designs.

After graduating from the university in 2009, she found a job in design and insisted on keeping up her hobby of making paper art after work. In the following four years, she changed jobs on three occasions, from designer to artist assistant.

"The experience made me realize that there are various ways of living and we can think outside the box. As a result, I decided to take a gap year to devote more time to my paper art," Wen says.

(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Infinite exploration

It was the end of 2013, when paper artist was not a profession known by a lot of people, that she established a studio－Jackie's Paper Art. Wen's stunning paper artworks found the media's spotlight and brand cooperation followed.

In 2014, Forest Fairy, a paper jewelry and clothes collection by Wen, was displayed at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.

In 2015, The Waking of Insects, her first paper-cut art exhibition, was held in Guangzhou to mark the solar term of jingzhe, the name of which alludes to the fact that animals that hibernate during winter are awakened by spring thunder and the earth begins to come back to life.

"I am the fortunate one to find my passion for paper art and make it my career," Wen says.

Last year, her daughter was born and this has, not surprisingly, reduced her hectic schedule.

"I have so many roles to play, including daughter, mother, wife and boss, but above all I must be myself first," Wen says.

For Wen, being a mother enriches her perspective of the world and her artworks.

"After a child is born, every mother has, to some extent, experienced a struggle and a period of helplessness, be it short or long. I want to express that kind of feeling in an artwork for my next exhibition," she says.

(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

What's more, she has a bold idea about using fire in her paper artwork.

"I like Cai Guoqiang, an artist famous for his spectacular fireworks. As a paper artist who is fascinated by fireworks, I want to explore the possibility of combining both," Wen says.

"My idea is that I create a paper installation and then burn it. What will be left? The burning is a process of spallation. It is close to my current situation, finally stable psychologically, through all the struggles and depression after giving birth," she says, adding that the first months being a new mother were unsettling for an artist, whose body seemed to be stuck, while the mind was still active.

"Even if I fail, I will keep exploring the possibilities of paper, which is the main motivation for my art," she says.

She knows how hard her exploration can be. It took her several years to make the art installation By Flow. She couldn't remember how many times and methods she had tried to keep the jellyfish afloat in the water.

Wen even learned scuba diving to make a video of her swimming among the paper jellyfish. The filming lasted several hours, and she was freezing.

"The process was unforgettable and the result is good," the artist says.

For Wen, art has no boundaries and she lives for that.

Contact the writer at wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn