This image from the Zen City series captures a composition that evokes the interior of a mechanical device—perhaps a tape deck, camera, or transmission module. Its layered structure and visible screws and blocks give it a sense of weight, function, and purpose. Yet, upon closer inspection, the seemingly metallic surfaces are made from botanical textures: dried leaves, flower veins, mossy bark, and organic patterns.
Constructed through my Pixel Montage technique, the work reimagines machinery as a landscape built from fragments of the living world. The coiled patterns on the right side of the image resemble flowing wires or heat maps, made from plant imagery that glows with autumnal hues—reds, yellows, and browns. This interplay between the warm, life-giving tones and the cold industrial layout creates a powerful visual tension.
The work proposes a hybrid vision: a machine born from nature, or perhaps nature disguised as a machine. It encourages the viewer to question how much of our built environment is inspired by, or mimics, the systems and aesthetics of organic life. Beneath layers of screws and steel-like symmetry, a quiet natural order persists—unnoticed, but deeply embedded.
