Fire Ink (No. 2)

Since ancient times, in both the East and West, the social status of females has almost invariably been lower than that of males. The Chinese character ta 她 (she/her), was only invented and officially included in the Chinese dictionary around one-hundred years ago. Chinese characters are frequently composed of a combination of components known as radicals. In the Chinese dictionary, unlike the characters with male-gendered radicals, most of the Chinese characters with the radical nü 女 (female) are associated with negative connotations or designate a lower social status. This glass installation, which explores these relationships and connotations, is composed of two Chinese characters: nan 男 (male/man) and nü 女 (female/woman). These primary characters are accompanied by certain characters that are designated as components when combined with the "female" radical nü and convey negative meanings such as zhi 支 (for ji 妓 , "prostitute"), gan 干 (for jian 奸 , "evilness"), yao 夭 (for yao 妖 , "demon" or "evil spirit"), bing 并 (for pin 姘 , "illicit relationship"), and wang 亡 (for wang 妄 , "false").

The unique material quality of molten glass in fire transforms the medium into a kind of ink with which each Chinese character or character component is written. The installation is suspended from the ceiling, with light penetrating through glass to create the fourth dimension. As the characters are projected onto the white wall, a play of abstract shadows changes along with the viewers' movement through the exhibition space.