The Curious Forager – A Study of Weeds (Revised Edition)

The Curious Forager: A Study of Weeds (Revised Edition) marks the beginning of the artist’s journey into consciousness. The project was conceived during a period where the artist began to look inward for answers as she was struggling to make sense of the complexity shrouding her external world. This primed her sensitivities to the subtle, intricate order of nature. As she stepped into the overgrown plot enveloped by creepers and visiting moths, she caught herself deliberating over removing the group of wild flowers and berries that flourished in its then current state. This incident triggered an inquiry into the classification and definition of weeds, where many were harvested and regrown in individual containers to observe their propagative behaviours. After which, these plants were sampled, pressed and painstakingly printed into a series of experimental monochromatic monotypes.

The process of sorting the weeds in a tactile manner provided the artist with several perspective shifts that was both meditative and healing, conveyed through a combination of illustrations and prose, eventually putting an end to a depressive state that has plagued her for a decade. This is a publication not only pushes the genre of pictures books with unconventional printmaking techniques alongside digital illustrations, but also explores artmaking as a tool in gaining clarity and healing from past traumas. Today, she finds herself approaching life similarly to the everyday act of weeding with gratitude, joy and peace.

There are three parts to the book. The first are the specimens themselves captured of the day as hand-pressed prints, followed by a selection of black and white illustrations that were done in the solace of the night. The third is manifested from an amalgamation of the consciousness Teachings that was passed to her by her teacher, interwined with her interpretation of her understanding of her inner world, one by which emerges as fragments from the entire creative process.

The revised edition includes a Foreword by Hun Ming Kwang that was transcribed from an in-person conversation. Hun Ming Kwang is a highly sought after inner-work teacher, a professional life coach and an author who champions mental health, suicide prevention, alternative medicine, and human transformation both locally and globally. He is also the founder of ThisConnect.today, and multiple record-setting creative interventions and campaigns, that serve to address root causes of social issues that are seen in the fabrics of the environment we live in today, and raising an utmost need for greater fundamental responsibility and emotional literacy in order to truly heal.

About the Artist/Author

Wendy Mack (b. 1993) is an independent creative who makes niche art/illustrated books based on her direct observations and experiences in search of the truth of reality. She graduated from LASALLE, College of the Arts with a BA(Hons) in Arts Management in 2015, and more recently from 3DSense Media School with a diploma in Digital Design & Illustration in 2020. Her work is tactile in nature, and she loves to craft objects out of clay, yarn, textiles, paint, printmaking, and collage.