Pteridophilia 2016
(7)
A VIDEO ART WORK IN FIVE CHAPTERS.
1. Six young men walk into a forest in Taiwan, making close contact with ferns. They establish emotional and physical relationships with the plants, relying on their bodies rather than words. Ferns are very common in Taiwan. They are valued by indigenous people but not by Japanese colonists or the Nationalists.
2. A man makes love to a bird's nest fern and then starts eating it. Zheng reflects on our current moral outlook that it is “natural” to eat plants but “unnatural” to make love to them. Bird's nest fern is a popular delicacy in Taiwan.
3. Zheng collaborates with three local BDSM practitioners who in turn collaborate with three fern species to expand BDSM practice.
4. For centuries humans have been in love with furled fronds of young ferns. Inspired by Yaoi anime, this chapter follows a young couple in their acts of love with fiddleheads.
5. This chapter connects spores and sperms.
