Ink on the move

In this sense, woyou provides a form of quiet compensation for those drawn to nature but reluctant to endure the fatigue of the road. It offers an alternative way to encounter landscapes, free from physical burden, yet rich in imagination.

Visitors to Speaking for Nature, an exhibition now underway at the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy, are invited into precisely such an immersive woyou experience. The show presents the works of Ya Ming (1924-2002), whose depictions of China's diverse and captivating landscapes unfold like an immersive journey across time and terrain.

Running through April 26, the exhibition brings together paintings and drawings from multiple collections, including the Jiangsu Traditional Chinese Painting Institute, where Ya Ming worked for many years; the Jiangsu Art Museum in Nanjing; the Ya Ming Art Museum in Hefei, his hometown in Anhui province; and several private collections.

The exhibition traces what might be called a painterly travelogue, rooted in a journey undertaken in the autumn of 1960. Over three months, Ya Ming, born Ye Jiabing, traveled with more than a dozen colleagues from the Jiangsu Traditional Chinese Painting Institute, according to Ma Wen, a member of the exhibition's curatorial team.