YUAN Hui-Li 袁慧莉
Fire Ink 火墨
The Fire Ink series confronts the urgent contemporary crises of global warming and air pollution. Through a 'material conversion' of traditional Eastern Xuan paper, the charcoal ash left after scorching is transformed into the core creative medium, thereby expanding the expressive boundaries of traditional ink. In terms of material application, Fire Ink fundamentally inverts the technical order of traditional ink painting. While the classical process moves from fire to water (transforming burnt soot into ink to flow on paper), Fire Ink reverses this sequence, moving from water (water-processed Xuan paper) to fire (incinerating it into ash). This inversion not only points to a dialectic between 'water and fire' within ink syntax, but also triggers a regenerative debate on 'destruction and creation.' It unlocks a material realm untouched by classical Eastern aesthetics, while shifting the cultural lexicon of 'ink' from pure visual representation to active critique within contemporary ecological crises.
The Xuan paper carrier—originally meant to hold the ink—is transformed by fire into ash, which is then applied onto the paper surface with my hands. Crucially, no traditional binding glue is added to permanently fix the medium. A portion of the charcoal ash is intentionally left in a free, loose state, serving as a visceral symbol for the particulate matter (PM2.5) that floats and moves through our polluted air. This preservation of material 'vulnerability' and dynamic instability mirrors the fragile, volatile state of our global ecosystem under the catastrophic impacts of wildfires, warfare, and smog.
The Fire Ink project(Ongoing since 2015) employs a fire-ink technique in which paper is burned and its ash transformed into ink landscape. The work closely engages with contemporary phenomena such as 21st-century global warming and air pollution. As a modern ink-based vocabulary, it replaces the “moist essence” of traditional ink painting with the “arid energy” of Fire ink, echoing climatic transformations across both ancient and modern times. Started in 2015, Fire Ink is structured as a trilogy titled the 'Fire Ink Project,' comprising three parts: Displacing the Classical (Part 1), Quotidian Smog(Part 2), and On-site Creation and Installation(Part 3).
The series formerly titled Fiery Ink has been renamed Fire Ink to better reflect the elemental nature and material transformation of the work. The series title has been officially updated to Fire Ink for all works created on or after April 3, 2026.
《火墨》系列旨在回應當今全球氣候暖化與空氣污染的迫切現象。此實踐透過對傳統東方宣紙的 「物質性轉換」，將燒灼後的炭灰直接轉化為核心創作媒介，以此拓寬傳統墨性的表現疆界。在材質應用上，《火墨》從根本上倒置了傳統水墨的工法秩序：傳統製墨與作畫的歷程是「由火（燒煙成炭灰製墨）到水（水墨於宣紙上流動）」；而《火墨》則反轉為「由水（水漂製成的宣紙）到火（焚燒為灰燼）」。這項反轉不僅在文化媒材的語法上指向「水與火」的墨性對辯，也引出了「破與立」的再生辯證，打開了古典東方美學未曾觸及的物質領域，同時也將“墨”的文化語彙，從純粹的視覺風格再現，帶向了當代生態危機的應用思考。
原本作為承載墨跡的宣紙載體，經由火的洗禮成為炭灰，再以手將其塗抹於紙上。值得注意的是，創作過程中並不加入傳統的膠水進行永久固定，刻意使部分炭灰在完成後仍保持自由的狀態，以此象徵在空氣中漂浮、移動的霾碳微粒與PM2.5。這種對材質「脆弱性」與動態狀態的保留，也映射了世界生態在野火、戰爭、空污災變下的脆弱與變動性。
《火墨計畫》(自2015至今)以火燒宣紙取炭灰作畫，表現當今21世紀地球暖化空污現象，作為當代山水畫另一種墨性語彙，以「火墨」的「燥氣」取代「水墨」的「潤氣」，對應古今氣候變異。《火墨》從2015年開始創作，以變古(Part 1)、霾日常(Part 2)、現地創作裝置(Part 3)作為"火墨計畫"三部曲。
原本《火墨》系列使用英文Fiery Ink, 但2026年04月03日以後創作的火墨作品都改為Fire Ink為英文主標命名，以前的火墨作品則維持原來的譯名。
