Anna Maria: Dear Yuxi, I would love to do the next micro-interview with you. I am curious about your work and I would love to find out more about how you started, what you do, what you are reading and anything you are willing to share. So I hope you accept this invitation to stitch with me, as we braid a tapestry of words, thoughts and values together.
Yuxi: Dear Anna, I would love to be part of the ”stitching”.
Anna Maria: Please tell me a little about your work as I navigate your website (www.yuxichendesign.com). What made you start working so avidly with plants in the first place? and what do you wish to convey with your work with the persons (or multi species) who come across it?
Yuxi: My passion for plants traces back to my childhood when I often found myself in the garden, either helping or, more accurately, disrupting my father’s gardening time. Our garden was a treasure trove of seasonal fresh fruits and veggies. However, I hadn’t really grown anything on my own until 2020, when COVID-19 hit. With the city of Gothenburg under lockdown, schools closed, and social distancing in full effect, I found myself stuck in my apartment, venturing out only for groceries once a week. That’s when I started growing plants at home. It began with a few potted herbs and spring onions, then expanded to a sprouted potato that had been sitting around for too long. As lockdown became the new normal, I spent most of my time indoors, reflecting on my consumption habits and learning to get along with myself. Taking care of plants became a way to cope with the stress of isolation. It also brought plants back into my life, not just as mundane food sources but as living beings with their own significance. This period led me to concepts like the post-Anthropocene and the more-than-human world. A natural question arose: what is my relationship with these plants? I see my plant-growing activities as a method to explore this relationship and imagine a potential reality of human-plant symbiosis. This was the starting point for my project “Being with Plant.” As I delved into this subject, I noticed a common phenomenon known as “plant blindness” or plant awareness disparity.
This includes:
Not recognizing the critical role plants play in our world and daily lives.
Failing to appreciate the beauty of plants as living forms.
Ranking plants as inferior to animals, leading to their neglect.
A general lack of attention, interest, and knowledge about plants.
The project aimed to explore how designers can raise awareness of plants from a de-anthropocentric perspective. I borrowed the term “speculated fabulation” from Donna Haraway to guide my design practice, and I started to produce multifaceted narratives and hosted drawing and writing workshops to see if multimedia storytelling could spark conversations and foster opportunities to explore human-plant relationships.
Although my project could be framed as participatory design or co-design, I prefer not to label it strictly. It’s a process of re-seeing, reconnecting, re-imagining, and reconstructing human-plant relations by integrating visual information and bodily experiences to create an immersive context for understanding.
Anna Maria: It seems that lockdown period jump-started many newfound relationships to and with plants. Have you been tracing your old roots and moments with your grandfather through plants too? And have you managed to find a plot to co-garden in Gothenburg? One of my favourite plant neurologists who often speaks about plant blindness is Stefano Mancuso. Have you heard of him?
Another question as we approach midsummers would perhaps be about time and plants. Has time shifted with your newfound plant relations? And could you tell me one of your favourite fabulations from your projects? And what is the plant project you have enjoyed most and one that had the biggest impact on you?
Yuxi: Sadly, I couldn’t co-garden in Gothenburg during the shutdown, but recently, I’ve formed a ”planting community” with some friends. Together, we’re growing grapes, tomatoes, potatoes, lotus, cacti, and new sprouts of lemons, lychee, and avocados. It’s interesting because these species don’t normally share the same geographical or agroclimatic zone. Some of the seeds come from our daily food consumption; it may sound odd, but the avocado travels all the way from Peru to my local grocery store and then ends up in a pot on my balcony. As time passes, my relationship with these plants evolves. It’s sad to say goodbye to the sick ones and those that only live for one growing season, but this experience reminds me of the intricate relationship between myself and the plants. Looking deeper, there are bees, birds, bacteria, microbes, soil, water, and countless microelements from minerals involved in the habitat process.
This inclusive view also leads to one of the most attractive fabulations for me from the ”Being with Plants” project. It appears when I invite the participants to a writing workshop and construct a fictional story about a future human-plant interplay scenario. Many stories were speaking from a plant’s point of view, and here I would love to share a piece: “‘Where’s my starch supplement?’ Wild Potato asked me in a troubled voice. I felt so bad. I placed Wild Potato next to me on the couch and told him that because of the ongoing famine, we all had to make sacrifices. We sat quietly next to each other for the rest of the evening.” I really enjoyed seeing how participatory events could introduce the concept of plant awareness disparity by triggering the participants to observe plants and actively research biological, historical, and sociological facts about the story’s main character (potato) to enrich the storyline.
Anna Maria: Indeed, these intimate moments and stories we collect and make with plants are the ones that build a relationship with the living world. So, I wish to conclude this interview with one last question; with all your experiences and projects with plants what do you think is the most important piece of transformative advice you could give to humans about building deeper connections with plants?
Yuxi: As for advice on building connections with plants, I would say always be respectful, mindful, and stay curious. Take the time to observe plants closely, learn about their needs and behaviors, and appreciate their vital role in our ecosystem. By nurturing plants, we not only foster their growth but also cultivate a deeper sense of connection to the natural world. This connection can transform our perception of nature from something external to something we are intrinsically a part of. Engage with plants not just as objects of beauty or utility but as living beings with their own intrinsic value. This shift in perspective can lead to more sustainable and harmonious ways of living, benefiting both ourselves and the planet.
Last but not least, the above bits of advice goes beyond just plants to the more-than-human world in general. It is crucial to find one’s own way of being with the more-than-human, observing, learning, and understanding. It’s always about perspective shifting.
Anna Maria: Thank you for all your time and consideration. It was a pleasure to learn more about your work
Yuxi: Thank you! It’s been a pleasure discussing my work, and I look forward to continuing the conversation in the future.