Installation Introduction

This installation explores the entanglement of women’s bodies, marriage, and social expectations in the Chinese context. Hair, a material intimately tied to identity and history, recalls the tradition of the zishu nü (self-combing women) in southern China—women who resisted marriage and pledged independence through the act of combing their own hair. Here, the hair is braided, knotted, and suspended, suggesting both autonomy and control.

Red ropes dominate the atmosphere, referencing the cultural symbolism of red in Chinese marriage—tradition, celebration, and fate—while also transforming into a net of social pressure and entrapment. Heavy iron chains contrast with the softness of hair and the translucency of black tulle on the ground, evoking the weight of patriarchal structures against the silenced yet flowing presence of women’s voices.

The interplay of black and red defines the visual tone of the work: black as the shadowed background of suppression, red as the inescapable cultural marker of marriage. By entering this space of tension and restraint, viewers are invited to reflect on how marital choices are shaped by tradition, family, and societal structures, and to reconsider the possibility of self-definition within and beyond these systems.