This piece was a commissioned piece that came out of The Artist Part field trip as part of this year’s Artist Brigade.

Artist Statement

The inspiration for this project came from the Greenhouse event in 2021 where I was moved by the power of names shared by a few of the speakers. From the tall cedars to the ravens to the land, there was a beauty and power in those words. It connects people to people and peoples to the land. The notion of names inspired me to look for connections to the land in my mother tongue and the idea for Come dream with me in the forest was formed.

“來跟我在林里做夢” or Come dream with me in the forest is a short animation (5:09) based on the word “木”, which means tree. The Chinese language is pictorial and elegant in its forms. “林”, which is two trees combined means forest and “森” with three trees mean deep forest. “來”, which looks like a tree with two people underneath means come, while “本” can mean root or origin. Incorporating traditional Chinese calligraphy by Celia Leung, sound design by Robyn Jacob, and hand drawn and digital animation by Wen Wen Lu, the piece creates an image-based story of encountering and wonderment of the land.

來跟我在林里做夢 or Come dream with me in the forest

Process: 來跟我在林里做夢 or Come dream with me in the forest

Artist Bio

Wen Wen (Cherry) Lu is a multimedia artist interested in exploring the hidden, the small and the forgotten through installation, illustration and animation. Taking inspiration from family history, she seeks to combine it with the present experiences of culture, nature and community to create something that questions.