The Language of Bugs

Book excerpt: This award-winning contemporary art book is made completely from the perspective and language of bugs, from the front page to the final chapter, with no human writing and text, only the "writing" of bugs. Inspired by the marks left behind by a cicada walking across his sketchbook, contemporary artist Zhu Yingchun placed boards and "ink ponds" of dark-coloured vegetable juices in his garden for the bugs to crawl through. The resulting marks, were thousands of twisted characters, each with a charm of its own - the language of the bugs. The accompanying booklet explains the artist's concept and QR code links the reader to a video of the process. "The bugs seem insignificant, but their strokes are beautiful," says Zhu Yingchun. "Art is not just those pieces hanging on walls and placed in exhibition halls. Everything in the world, including every life in nature, has the power to create beauty, and art is all around us."