Shen’s work investigates the complex relationships that occur between humans and nature. There is a connection between the physical and biological changes that occur when strangers kiss, and climatic changes that occur when CO2 emissions enter the atmosphere. Her work is a witness to this, informed by her personal perspective on contemporary environmental, and cultural issues.

Her artistic practice draws on parallels between her personal path and wider issues that transcend cultural boundaries. Utilising a range of approaches, including performance, digital media, and installations, and drawing upon field and visual theory, there is a convergence of art, design, science, and technology in Shen’s work that makes connections between the molecular and metaphysical.

Works involving carbon make associations between the elemental form of carbon, which is the universal building block of all known life, and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by industrial processes. There is a universal quality to carbon, shared by ourselves, our planet, its atmosphere and the food we eat, it travels from the atmosphere into organisms and back again in an ever repeating cycle. Through her work Shen seeks to submit her own changes within a dynamic natural process.