Bio: Eunice Kiang is a senior at Yale majoring in Computing and the
Arts.
Design concept from Eunice: I chose to design the idiom “顺其自然” which I learned
from Taoist ideas in Chinese class. The concept of following one’s heart and going with the flow of fate resonates with me because that is how I came to study Chinese and developed the patience and resilience to overcome challenges both inside and outside Chinese class. My design uses the very concept of 顺其自然 in the process of its creation as well as motifs from related Taoist concepts in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. I was inspired to use the water radical 川 in the first character as the beginning of “the flow of fate” and allow it to carry my brushstrokes forth. Also, such brushstrokes are reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape paintings, which encompass other Taoist ideas like harmony with nature. Thus, I integrated the characters that flowed out like a river
from my brush with a peaceful fisherman. Leaning on the character 其 with a smile so calm that a bird can sit on his hat formed by the bottom of the character 顺, the fisherman does not fret even as the fishes, formed by the character 然, swim away from him, because he believes that one day he will get the fish that he needs, hence the smaller version of him standing on a raft formed by the character 自.