Her work included a series of illustrations portraying the lotus flower in combination with everyday Chinese items which are made of organic materials, highlighting the presence of nature in everyday life, two spheres which often seem detached from one another. The compositions reflected a balance between the two, both literally, in terms of the distribution of forms on the page, and also metaphorically, in that these two elements in our lives must complement each other.
The work was printed on polyester film, a translucent material which allows the work to merge with the environment in which it is exhibited.
The Lotus flower is appriciated and praised in many poems in ancient Chinese. The poem situated above the lotus illustration: ’出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖‘  is from the Song Dynasty, is translated as: ‘lotus is rising from the mud but is not stained, bathed by clear water but not garish.’ Which implies its elegance, integrity and independence despite its circumstances.

︎ Mila Fan is a London based visual artist with an MFA from Kingston University. She predominantly works with digital art and illustration, occasionally collage and installation. Her work generally circulates around themes of identity and the mundane.