世界自然基金会/WWF Tiger Trail
20世纪初，全球仍有大约10万只野生老虎，如今仅剩约3,900只，它们的生存正持续不断地面临栖息地丧失及盗猎的严峻威胁，尤其是东南亚濒危的老虎物种。WWF发起TIGER TRAIL 2022 保护老虎项目，邀请全球众多艺术家参与创作，希望通过这一举动强调偷猎对老虎种群的生存有持续的威胁，呼吁大家保护老虎。
受WWF邀请，陈英杰开始了在老虎雕塑上的创作，作品灵感源于在与WWF共同保护老虎的经历。2017年在柬埔寨，WWF工作人员在森林找到了大量非法捕捉老虎的工具和荆棘铁网并且把它销毁。老虎雕塑随即在香港苏富比进行展出与公益拍卖，筹得的款项将捐给WWF用于野外老虎的保护工作。此次项目亦预示着2022年9月在 Vladivostok 举行的第四届全球老虎峰会，讨论如何解决野生老虎的生存问题及其更广泛的气候影响政策。
“亚马逊的森林大火，疫情的爆发，到全球暖化，水资源缺乏与冰川的融化，一系列的自然形态促发了我这次创作的冲动。”
“那一刻我想起老虎撕裂般的挣扎，这种痛苦感在这次创作中我再一次表达了出来。”
顺延头部到身躯如铁丝般凸起颜料缠绕着老虎的整个身体和四肢，这种尖锐的荆棘也如基因的造型，或抽象得像老虎的疤痕伤口。而头部与尾部的金箔则是表达风化干裂，整体被塑造成一个即将随风消散的形态，老虎正在往前，试图挣脱环境恶化与捕猎者的追击。
在自然重力系列中的色彩碰撞与失重的视觉效果也应用在了本次的创作之中，暗喻如今偏向失衡的自然环境，干涸的土地与燃烧的山林无疑都是对于人类的警示，保护老虎同时也是在保护整个自然生态。
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were still about 100,000 wild tigers in the world, but now the number has reduced to 3,900. Wild tigers, especially the endangered tigers in Southeast Asia, have been constantly facing severe threats of habitat loss and poaching. WWF has launched the "WWF TIGER TRAIL 2022" project, and invited many international artists to participate in the creation, hoping to emphasize a fact that poaching poses a continuous threat to the survival of tigers, and calling on everyone to protect tigers.
Invited by WWF, Chen Yingjie started the creation on the surface of tiger sculpture. The creation on the tiger sculpture was inspired by the experience that he was protecting the tigers with WWF. Plenty of illegal tiger-trap tools and thorns-liked iron nets in the forest were found and destroyed by WWF staff in Cambodia in 2017. These tiger sculptures will be exhibited and auctioned at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, and the money raised will be donated to WWF for the protection of wild tigers. This project will also herald the forth coming Global Tiger Summit being hosted in Vladivostok in September 2022, where world leaders will attend to discuss ways forward to address the survival of Tigers in the wild and their wider climate impact policies.
“My compulsion of this creation was triggered by some natural phenomena like the forest fire in Amazon Rain Forest, the outbreak of epidemic, the shortage of fresh water, and the melting glaciers.“
“At that moment, an image of a desperately struggling tiger came into my mind. This feeling of pain was depicted again in this creation.”
The iron-wire-liked protruding pigments are wrapping around the tiger’s limbs and even its whole body. These “sharp thorns” are also like genes, or like tiger’s scars in an abstract way. The gold foils on its head and tail create a weathering effect. The tiger sculpture was shaped like a scattering-and-disappearing form. It is moving forward, and trying to break free from environmental deterioration and to shake off hunters’ attacking.
The visual effects of color collision and weightlessness in Gravity series have also been applied in this creation. They’re a metaphor for the unbalanced natural environment. Dried-up land, and burning mountain forests are warnings to mankind. Undoubtedly, protecting tigers is also protecting the whole natural ecology.