Fiber Artist Lin Yanling: Weaving Life with Plants and Trees

Whenever a vine is freed from whatever ties it down, it should be left to grow freely for a few days, so it can spread and bend as it pleases, and ideally reach the ground, for this is its longing year after year.-- Wild Fruits, Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862)

Living at the Foot of the Mountain with All Kinds of Forests

Taking part in the Tropic of Cancer Environmental Art Residency in 2007 had already connected Lin Yanling and Wang Yaojun as a couple to Meinuo. Later, following Wang Yaojun's career choice to teach at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Lin Yanling settled in Meinuo in 2008 with their two children.

The farmhouse they live in sits at the foot of the Meinuo mountains, on the south side of Fumei Road, surrounded by a grove of mahogany trees. This mahogany grove was planted by Wang Yaojun using a "scientific" method, producing fine timber that grows straight up and true. The farmhouse faces south, with the banyan hollow directly behind it, and behind the house is a vegetable garden that looks like a forest; chickens and dogs are also kept there, yet people and animals live in harmony.

The method for making a paper mulberry lantern is very simple. First, make the paper mulberry into pulp, scoop up the pulp with a filter screen, press out the excess water with a dry cloth, then spread it over a balloon. Once the water has evaporated and it is completely dry, pop the balloon, insert a light bulb, gather and bind the opening, then tie it to a stick, and a round lantern is made. Some leaves can be placed on it to decorate the lantern, and the projected light and shadow will change in different ways.