Jun Qi - Art & Illustration

Jun Qi

storytelling and illustration

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Chinese New Year Papercuts

2020
Ongoing
Symmetrical Chinese papercut showing two kittens and two rabbits standing amongst blooming flowers admiring a butterfly mid-flight. The kittens are looking at the butterfly playfully.

This is a project and a ritual I started in 2020, which was the The Year of the Rat and the beginning of a new cycle of the Chinese zodiac. I make it a point to create Chinese papercuts every year before the new year for decorating the house.

I am also slowly building up, year-by-year, a zodiac wall in my house. Every year, when I change the papercuts for the new year, I'll leave just one papercut of the perious zodiac animal behind on this wall. If I can keep this up till 2032, I'll have the full 12 animals of the zodiac crawling along my wall.

The designs are all original and the pieces are hand-cut.

Artworks

Symmetrical Chinese papercut showing two kittens and two rabbits standing amongst blooming flowers admiring a butterfly mid-flight. The kittens are looking at the butterfly playfully.
A pair of Chinese papercuts of white fortune beckoning cats with a dark spot on their foreheads. They are surrounded with cherry blossoms and are holding a scroll with the Chinese word for 'prosperity'
Pair of Chinese papercuts, each showing a rabbit bounding upwards amidst orchid blossoms
Pair of Chinese papercuts showing a rabbit bounding over a tabby cat, within a circular frame, with the Chinese character for 'Spring' in the center, amidst lush bamboo and palm foliage
A symmetrical Chinese papercut showing two tigers crouching, and a pun on an auspicious Chinese phrase: May the Five Prosperities Arrive at your Door
Chinese papercut of a tiger walking forward amidst blooming flowers
Chinese papercut with a rectangular frame; within it a tiger sits on the grass while lucky clouds roll overhead