Fill the sea 填海
I cannot forget the tale of Jingwei, the daughter of the Flame Emperor who drowned in the Eastern Sea and was reborn as a small bird. To keep the sea from drowning others, she carried pebbles and twigs in her beak, day after day, crying her own name: Jingwei, Jingwei! She vowed to fill the endless sea, and her descendants took up her vow without end.
When I left home, I also left my mother far behind. She always moves ceaselessly between joy and anxiety, never truly at rest. Tirelessly she works, tending to me and to every detail of the household. The weight she carries is heavy, and so often it bursts into quarrels between us. Yet she insists she is happy. Others admire her for being strong-willed, though her will has often left me gasping for breath.
In my childhood, she told me: a woman must be capable, she must never allow herself to be looked down upon. But as I grew older, she said the most important thing for a woman was to marry young. In myself, I began to glimpse the shadow of who she once was. I told her I still had so much to do, that marriage is not always a blessing. Women are too often used, drained, and then taught that such sacrifice is noble. My mother said: “That isn’t true. If what you say is real, then my whole life is nothing but ruin. Yet I have been happy.” After that, I never spoke of such things with her again. I only wished her happiness.
She support me with her entire life, and I became the person she hoped I would be. But in doing so, I drifted far from her. What was it that made my mother forget her own vow to fill the sea of her youth?
The embroidered red fabric references the traditional Chinese wedding attire Longfeng Gua, in which the phoenix motif is transformed into the Jingwei bird from ancient mythology.
The fabric has been soaked in Banlangen (Woad root), a plant long used in China as a herbal tea to boost immunity. Historically, female laborers also used this plant in textile dyeing.
2025
Medium: satin, rayon, metal, woad dye, plastic, circuit board, motor, air
Dimension: 72” x 25” x 25”