Zhu Jiayi — Wandering through a Latin American garden

 

朱嘉仪 

中央美术学院中国画学院工笔人物创作室；2024年获“叶浅予奖学金”；作品《小女孩的百草园》（即《丽贝卡之一》）入选“多彩•2026”第十届中国女画家作品展；2026年本科毕业创作《百年孤独》系列作品。

Zhu Jiayi

Studio of Gongbi Figure Painting, School of Chinese Painting, Central Academy of Fine Arts; recipient of the Ye Qianyu Scholarship in 2024; her work The Little Girl’s Herbal Garden（Rebecca, Part One） was selected for the Colorful 2026: The 10th National Women Painters’ Exhibition; her 2026 undergraduate graduation creation is the One Hundred Years of Solitude series.

我觉得魔幻现实主义是最贴近我的生命体验的，这个世界就是充满了魔法，而哥伦比亚作家加西亚•马尔克斯的小说《百年孤独》恰巧是我最喜欢的一个故事。

有一些人，一些事，他们降临在我们的生命里，就像一场梦，你没法解释也没法回避这一切，但这是现实主义的，生命是充满魔法的现实。世界可以很主观，当你爱上一个人，黄蝴蝶就会围着你们飞舞；当你感到孤独，身体就会慢慢枯萎变小；当你思念一片海，小鱼会游向你；当你想起曾经，回忆会在黑暗的房间变成现实；当你爱的人离开世界，天空就会下起花雨，下一整夜的花雨，直到一座城都被掩埋。

这一系列画都是书中我很喜欢的一些情节，因为时间有限我只画了这几张，但这并不是我想表达的全部，未来我还会不断完善这个系列。很多人说《百年孤独》难读，但我觉得大家需要的只是翻开它的勇气。忘记那些文学评论，更别去在意那些长长的名字，你只需要走进去像参观一座拉美花园一样欣赏它，这是一个无比精彩无比抓人的故事，所有人都一定会在里面找到自己，因为我们每个人都一定孤独过。

Among all literary traditions, magical realism feels closest to my own experience of life. To me, the world has always been filled with magic, and Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude is, perhaps, the story I cherish most.

There are certain people and events that enter our lives like a dream—unexplainable, unavoidable, yet undeniably real. Life itself is a reality infused with magic. The world can be profoundly subjective: when you fall in love, yellow butterflies dance around you; When loneliness settles in, your body seems to wither and shrink; when you long for the sea, little fish swim toward you; When memories return, the past takes shape again in a darkened room; and when the one you love departs from this world, flowers rain from the sky, pouring down all night, until an entire city is buried beneath them. 

This series depicts several episodes from the novel that resonate deeply with me. Due to time constraints, I’ve only completed a few so far, but this isn’t everything I want to express. I’ll continue refining and expanding this series in the future. Many readers describe One Hundred Years of Solitude as a difficult book. I believe what it truly requires is simply the courage to open it. Forget the criticism, and pay no attention to the long names. Just step inside and enjoy it as if touring a Latin American garden. It is an extraordinary and captivating story, one in which everyone is destined to find a reflection of themselves—for each of us has known loneliness.

 

名称Title：《幕落》The Curtain Falls

材质Material: 绢本重彩Heavy Color on Silk

尺寸Size: 130x185 cm

时间Year: 2026

 

马孔多会消逝吗？战争会结束吗？人的心会老去吗？孤独会终结吗？

吉普赛马戏团再一次进入马孔多的那天早晨，布恩迪亚将军知道他真的老了，属于他的战争，以及那一个时代结束了。

这张画描绘的是布恩迪亚上校准备再次发动战争的那天早晨，他推开房门时所看到的一幕。

书中并没有具体描绘这个画面，只说吉普赛又回到了马孔多。

布恩迪亚在这一瞬间感受到了自己的衰老，他在这个生命的时刻意识到：年华已逝，他决定回归孤独。

画面中大部分的元素都不存在于现实，来自我的想象，我希望门外是迷幻、喧闹又震撼的一幕奇观，毕竟在那个早晨之后，上校永远封锁了自己。

Will Macondo disappear? Will wars ever end? Will the human heart grow old? Will loneliness come to an end?  

On the morning the gypsy circus entered Macondo once again, General Buendía knew he was truly old—his war, and that entire era, had come to an end. 

This painting depicts the morning on which Colonel Buendía prepared to launch yet another war, and the scene that unfolded before him as he opened the door.

The book does not describe this moment in detail, only stating that the gypsies had returned to Macondo. Yet in that instant, Buendía felt his own aging; at this point in life, he realized that his youth was gone, and he chose to return to solitude.  

Most of the elements in the image do not exist in reality. They emerge my imagination. I wanted the view beyond the door to be a surreal, chaotic, and overwhelming spectacle, for after that morning, the Colonel would seal himself away from the world forever.

 

名称Title：《丽贝卡之一》Rebecca, Part One

材质Material: 绢本重彩Heavy Color on Silk

尺寸Size: 50x80 cm

时间Year: 2025

 

丽贝卡是一个外来者。

失眠症是最大的问题吗？她坐在热带花园里吃着泥土，吐出绿色的胆汁，一夜又一夜……

这张画描绘的是丽贝卡小时候的事，她作为一个外乡人刚来到马孔多，无亲无故。失眠症、焦虑与孤独深深困扰着她，她不说话，不吃饭，但夜夜在花园里食用泥土，这似乎成了她对抗孤独的唯一解药。

我选用了一些有特色拉美植物，想营造出一个湿热热带花园的夜晚，并在背景中加入了丽贝卡的小马摇椅。

Rebecca is an outsider.  

Was insomnia the biggest problem? She sat in a tropical garden eating soil, spitting out green bile, night after night... 

This painting depicts Rebecca’s childhood, when she first arrived in Macondo as a stranger with no family or connections. Plagued by insomnia, anxiety, and loneliness, she remained silent and refused to eat, yet each night she would consume soil in the garden—an act that seemed to be her only remedy against isolation.  

I selected several distinctive Latin American plants to evoke the humid, tropical atmosphere of a garden at night, and included Rebecca’s little rocking chair in the background.

 

 

名称Title：《《丽贝卡之三》Rebecca III

材质Material: 绢本重彩Heavy Color on Silk

尺寸Size: 50x80 cm

时间Year: 2025

 

丽贝卡没有嫁给任何人，她嫁给了孤独。

她没再出过房子一步，皮肤慢慢变得透明。

漫长的黑暗里她拥有了把回忆变成现实的能力。青苔无声的滋长，装点她的裙摆。

这张画描绘的是丽贝卡成为寡妇之后的事，我反而觉得她真正的出嫁了，她嫁给了孤独。

她再也没有出过房子一步，没有再见过除了女仆外的任何人，因为长期不接触阳光她的皮肤变得透明，甚至可以看见幽绿的骨头，她身上慢慢长出苔藓和蘑菇，在漫长的黑暗中，她获得了把回忆变成现实的能力。

我给她画了一身像婚纱的丧衣，你可以说这是丧服，但同样它也可以是黑色的婚纱，她是寡妇，也是孤独的新娘。背景中奔跑的幻影是回忆中的丽贝卡和阿妈兰达，曾几何时她们亲密无间。

Rebecca never married anyone. She married loneliness.  

She never stepped outside the house again, her skin gradually turning translucent.  

In the long darkness, she gained the power to turn memories into reality. Moss spread silently, adorning the hem of her dress. 

This painting depicts what happened to Rebecca after she became a widow, yet I feel she truly got married—she wedded loneliness.  

She never stepped outside the house again, nor did she see anyone besides her maid. Deprived of sunlight for so long, her skin turned translucent, revealing pale green bones beneath. Moss and mushrooms gradually grew upon her body. In the endless darkness, she gained the power to turn memories into reality.  

I dressed her in a funeral gown resembling a wedding dress—you might call it mourning attire, but it could just as well be a black wedding veil. She is a widow, yet also the bride of solitude. The figures running through the background are apparitions of Rebecca and Amaranta in memory. Once, they were inseparable.

 

 

名称Title：《黄蝴蝶》Yellow Butterflies

材质Material: 绢本重彩Heavy Color on Silk

尺寸Size: 50x80 cm

时间Year: 2025

 

马乌里肖带来了爱情和黄蝴蝶。

打开卧室门的一刻，她看见数不清的黄蝴蝶疯狂地飞舞，黄色的旋涡中心，年轻的爱侣紧紧拥抱在一起。

这张画画的是马乌里肖和梅梅。

布恩迪亚家族的每个人都被孤独诅咒，对于梅梅来说，诅咒通过爱情应验，因为那地老天荒的爱情就是她一生无法摆脱的孤独。

画面所描绘的是乌尔苏拉打开卧室门所看到一幕，漫天飞舞的黄蝴蝶形成混乱的漩涡，年轻的爱侣在漩涡的中心紧紧相拥，他们不愿意松开彼此，大概因为等待着他们的是死亡与孤独。

Mauricio brought love and yellow butterflies.  

The moment the bedroom door was opened, countless yellow butterflies burst into flight.Within the golden vortex, the two young lovers embraced each other tightly. 

This painting depicts Mauricio and Meme.  

Every member of the Buendía family is cursed with solitude. For Meme, the curse manifests through love,for the love that endures beyond time itself becomes the loneliness from which she can never escape. The scene shows what Ursula sees when she opens the bedroom door: a chaotic whirlwind of yellow butterflies swirling overhead. The young lovers clasp each other tightly at the center of the vortex, they are unwilling to let go each other, perhaps because death and solitude await them.

 

 

名称Title：《族长的秋天》The Patriarch’s Autumn

材质Material：绢本重彩Heavy Color on Silk

尺寸Size: 50x80 cm

时间Year: 2025

 

族长的官邸有二十六扇窗户，他每天都走过这二十六扇窗户，看到外面的26片海。葡萄牙人买走了族长的领海，他认为大海是无法被买走的，可是葡萄牙人按立方米带走了所有——海洋生物，资源甚至海水。大海变成了沙漠。

族长长久的坐在那里望着消失的大海，只剩尘沙。思念让他身上慢慢长出藤壶和越来越多的海洋生物，泌出海水的腥咸。

这张画所描绘的就是以上场景，我想象着族长坐在已经变成沙漠的大海里，他的思念让他自己变成了故乡一片小小的海洋。

The patriarch’s residence had twenty-six windows, and each day he walked past them all, gazing at the twenty-six seas beyond. The Portuguese purchased the patriarch’s territorial waters; he refused to believe that the sea can truly be owned, yet they took everything away—marine life, resources, even seawater—by the cubic meter. The sea turned into a desert.

For a long time, the chief patriarch there, staring at the vanished ocean, now nothing but dust and sand. His longing slowly grew upon him: barnacles and more marine creatures sprouted across his body, oozing the briny tang of seawater. 

This painting depicts that imagined scene. I envision the Patriarch seated in the place where the sea once existed, surrounded by an endless desert. His longing is so profound that he gradually becomes a small ocean of his own—a final fragment of the homeland he has lost.

联系方式：

朱嘉仪 手机：13581641960；电子邮箱：2068391823@qq.com

Contact Information:

Zhu Jiayi  Mobile Phone：13581641960；E-Mail: 2068391823@qq.com