Reishi Mushroom Liver

Taoist medicine views our bodies as a microsystem of the natural world. It uses a complex series of “correspondences” such as color, element, and odor to name a few, as diagnostic tools and metaphors to describe the body’s processes. This series of paintings represent the “five Zang or yin organs” known as the solid organs and the common herbs used in treating each respective organ.

In this series I explore how the Taoist thought process would have helped inform the selection of each herb for conditions of a given organ. For example the liver is associated with the wood element and reishi mushrooms grow on decaying wood. Appearance also plays a role in selection of the fungi with the shape and color of the reishi mushroom similar to that of the liver.

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