5" x 7" ink drawing of a Wood Dragon whose body is made of driftwood, black and white with accents of green leaves and grey lichen.
In Chinese mythology, the Dragon is often considered a Yang symbol, embodying light, activation, and the masculine. The Dragon has historically been the emblem of emperors, and is placed in contrast to Yin symbols of the dark, passive, and feminine. But it is a gross misinterpretation to consider yin-yang to be a binary, and the semantics of the term are far older–and queerer–than the patriarchal structures that have shaped more recent Chinese history.
In this Yang Wood Dragon, dead wood is not passive, but a source of activation. The wood of the dragon’s body bursts with life as the wood breaks down to create new Earth. The dragon’s core element is Earth, so even as the Wood Dragon’s outer body breaks, it nourishes itself. I am thinking about the grief that intergenerational, diasporic peoples carry in our bones, of what we have lost in our efforts to live. I am thinking about present day genocides that we bear witness to in Palestine, Sudan, and the Congo, and how, despite the violence, those faced daily with death are teaching all of us about the stubbornness of life. Staying alive–insisting that one exists–is the essence of resistance.
Dragons are an amalgamation of many animals, and this Wood Dragon carries the head of an elk, the claws of an eagle, and the body of a rattlesnake. Common, immortal, and fearsome. This Wood Dragon is for everyone this year who needs a reminder that a people cannot die as long as community exists for and of them. Resistance is long, enduring, and as patient as trees rooting in and becoming earth, ready for a time when they can blossom and fruit again.
Last two days of the Year of the Wood Dragon before #lunarnewyear. 🪵🐲
From my ongoing small #inkdrawing series, The Asian Diasporic Zodiac, inspired by conversations with my Taiwanese mother and landscapes of Turtle Island [North America].
#dragon #chinesezodiac #asiandiasporicart #yearofthesnake