Homi K. Bhabha’s The Location of Culture is a foundational text in postcolonial theory that redefines how we understand identity, power, and cultural expression in the aftermath of colonialism. Central to Bhabha’s work is the concept of hybridity, which he defines not simply as the mixing of cultural forms, but as a dynamic, disruptive space where meaning is negotiated and where colonial authority is both mimicked and undermined. He introduces the idea of the “Third Space”, a liminal, in-between zone in which hybrid identities emerge. These identities are not fixed syntheses but instead become sites of tension, negotiation, and resistance.

For my research, Bhabha’s theories provide a critical framework for understanding the cultural and political meanings embedded in Taiwan’s orchid history. Phalaenopsis orchids, as both natural hybrids and cultural symbols, embody the paradox of hybridity: they are celebrated globally yet rooted in histories of colonial classification and commodification. The orchid becomes, in Bhabha’s terms, a site of ambivalence, simultaneously an object of beauty and a product of imperial desire.

By engaging with Bhabha’s ideas, my research frames hybridity not only as a botanical or aesthetic condition, but as a critical strategy. My practice explores how hybrid forms in visual, material, and sensorial expressions can open a “Third Space” that destabilizes colonial narratives and allows new forms of knowledge and identity to emerge. This theoretical grounding supports a decolonial approach to both artistic visualization and the politics of plant representation.