During the exhibition, I observed how audiences from different cultural backgrounds interpreted the red threads in strikingly diverse ways. Korean participants told me that, within East Asian culture, the red thread symbolizes destiny and emotional connection—it carried deep meaning for them. Participants from other countries, however, simply saw it as thread. Chinese and Singaporean viewers found it eerie, even unsettling, while several Canadian visitors described it as both powerful and fragile. One whispered, “It looks like real hair—so soft, I feel like I should protect it.”
These reactions made me realize that the materiality of the work speaks in multiple cultural languages. What one group perceives as sacred connection, another experiences as discomfort or fear. This diversity of interpretation expanded the meaning of the work far beyond my initial intention—it became not only a reflection on Chinese womanhood, but also a cross-cultural dialogue about how intimacy, the body, and destiny are perceived and embodied across different societies.
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