Interview with Yiyuan Bai
1. Please tell us something about your background and your art journey so far.
How to explore the possibilities in life and nature?
Yiyuan Bai, as an interdisciplinary material maker, focuses on making sustainable materials and tends to develop materials into products, accessories or art installations according to their own characteristics.
She held a postgraduate degree in textiles from the Royal College of Art in London 2023, where she focused on making sustainable materials from herbal medicines, beans, sodium alginates, tree leaves and other natural sources. She applied her bio-design and CMF expertise to craft bio-materials and explored the effects of natural dyeing on herbal medicines.
In these three years, she participated in many interdisciplinary cooperation projects, including the team project " A Grain Of '' from the Southern University of Science and Technology, School of Design in Shenzhen, China; " The Breath of Life " from the Guangzhou Zoo and two projects " Catching Melting Ice " and " Marine Plastic Pollution " during her study at Royal College of Art. Meanwhile, her works exhibited in many galleries, museums and design weeks in 2024. The team project " A Grain Of '' exhibited at Shenzhen Design Week and her graduation work " SOLE " at the Royal College of Art exhibited at Shanghai Best Emerging Talent Festival, London Parallax Art Fair, London Design Festival and will be exhibited in the Louvre Museum in France and will be collected and exhibited by Tongqi Museum in Hunan, China. Besides, her work " SOLE " was published in the New Materials category of Green Trend Book 2024 in Germany.
In recent years, her works have won awards at the Global HUA Design Supreme Gold Award, 2024 Netherlands ARC Design Silver Award, the 6th CADA Japan Concept Art Design Silver Award; the 6th Hong Kong New Contemporary Design Award, the G-CROSS Award 2024, UK, the 4th London Chinese Art Exchange Exhibition, the 6th EPACC Environmental Protection Art Creation Contest, USA; the 4th CADA Japan Concept Art Design Competition and at the 5th Hong Kong Contemporary Design Award. Besides, she has been shortlisted for the Hyundai Awards for Excellence in Sustainability & Creative Practice, UK and the nominee for the Green Concept Award, Germany.
2. Can you tell us more about the theme in your art and your inspiration?
Theme:
The prescription of Tinea Manuum can be combined with the application of Pogostemon Cablin, Herba Eupatoriican which have the effects of sedation by touching, healing effects of easing anxiety by smelling, mixed with warm water can have antibacterial effects.
In the initial process of selecting the ingredients of the herbal medicines, I opted for a combination of two aromatic ingredients of Pogostemon Cablin, Herba Eupatoriican these two types of herbal medicine to maximise the bacteria suppressing effect and antifungal properties. In the meantime, these two types of aromatic herbal medicine have the effects of easing anxiety and promoting calmness through their scent.
Therefore, the currently being developed herbal biomaterials can be directly applied on the surface of the skin or immersed in warm or hot water. In the phase of conceptual design, I am attempting to design the package and gloves as the subsequent stage. As the fungal infection on the palms as the design prototype. Based on the distribution range of the fungal bacteria on the different areas of the hands including the interdigital spaces, palm, and palm's lateral sides. The gloves are designed as each finger part can be removed and installed at any time, which better enables users to wear corresponding gloves according to their own parts that have Tinea manus infection. The handle from the package is designed to match the width of the hand, for it is more suitable for people with Tinea manus and can achieve therapeutic effect when using the package.
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Inspiration: Throughout my upbringing, as my aunt being a practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine, my family has always relied on the traditional way of herbal medicine to treat all sorts of illness, which allowed me to experience the magical attraction and allure of Chinese herbal medicine.
During the process of my pursuit of my further studies, it has inspired me greatly to the constant experimenting of creating biodegradable and recyclable materials using natural substances or discarded items such as fruit and vegetable peels due to my growing passion in the application of bio-materials. Additionally, I have also come to realise that in the study of Chinese herbal medicine as part of the Chinese traditional culture, the majority of plant-based materials can exhibit various types of medical properties that can have potential medical benefits to humanity as a whole under the premise of sustainable development.
3. How does your art life impact other parts of your life?
In fact, I always find the inspiration from life. To be honest, the application of herbal medicine generates a significant amount of waste. Most of the herbal medicine ingredients are applied by adding a measured amount of water and boiling for a certain amount of time then the herbal liquid is poured into the bowl for consumption. To preserve the optimal medical effect, the remaining residue of the herbal medicines are generally to be discarded in which this practice leads to the generation of substantial herbal waste. Given the consideration of this concept, the herbal bio-material that I have developed eventually could be dissolved in water and subsequently decompose, thereby mitigating the issue of residual herbal waste.
Fundamentally, in the selection of the materials, apart from the currently incorporated herbal medicine I have also included natural substances such as liquid from discarded beans, algae, and edible starches to develop the bio-materials. These natural ingredients align with principles of sustainable development of the environment.
4. Could you share any difficulties and hardships you had to face in life and how or if you managed/overcame them?
Main challenges: During the development process of my work, the main challenges are the application of flexibility and durability. Since the primary medical effect would be treating hand eczema, therefore I need to ensure my products are able to adhere to the skin and are comfortable to wear.
Process of experiments: During the initial process of experimenting, I have attempted to utilise various types of fruit and vegetable peels to dye different types of the medical herbs. Besides, I tried to develop a type of relatively rigid material during the first version of the prototype to attempt to create various forms of hand accessories. Subsequently, in the consideration of the degree of aesthetics and comfort, I am experimenting to create softer and more lightweight materials.
5. What are you working on at the moment and are there any upcoming events you would like to talk about?
Recently, as an interdisciplinary research assistant for Prof. Enza Migliore’s Materialities Research Group as well as Prof. Marcel Sagesser’s Sound Studies Group. In this position, I am working on the project " A Grain Of " that explores the city Shenzhen through its physical and mediatic materialities. As a new role in London, after making a great portfolio for the project and will be connecting some galleries, museums or art spaces to find some opportunities to show here.
It is my honour to say that my work will be exhibited in the London Design Festival between 19 and 22 in September and has been included in the collection of the Tong Qi Chinese Herbal Medicine Museum in Hunan, China.
Website: www.yiyuanbai.com
Instagram: @irena_abai
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