Water Plantain Kidney

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 the conditions of a given organ. For example, the kidney is associated with the water element. Therefore a water plant such as the water plantain would reflect its properties. I also try to depict the function of the organ thought the Taoist lens. It is said that the kidney rules the water passages, therefore, I use the kidney’s anatomy to appear like water passages within the kidney itself.