Installation Art > Gift

Gift
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
thread, used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
GGift (detail)
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
red thread, remnant of fabrics/used clothes, wire
2017
Gift (detail)
thread, used clothes, wire
2017
Gift
2020

Red threads, remnants of fabric / used clothes, wire

“We don’t meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason.”

Life is like a journey. As a traveler, sojourner, and temporary dweller, crossing the path with some people at a certain place and time looks like a mystery and not like an accident to me. These people gave me help and encouragement, and even changed my life. I appreciate these people and consider these meetings as gifts, with a higher purpose and reason beyond human understanding.
With this installation, I expressed the relationships with these influential people. First, I was inspired by the material of yarn to express a "gift", as hand-knitted items often become a form of “gift” to show deep care to family and friends. I chose red color as it immediately reminds me of an old East Asian myth of red strings of fate. I collected some used clothes and remnants of fabric from my friends and family to represent something belonging to someone influential to me. I started braiding them with wire and red thread, visualizing the way people cross their paths for a reason. These braided strands started to form a shape like flower petals. It made me realize that these people are forming my life into a shape like a bunch of flowers, another form of “gift”. With a big ball element like a yarn ball on the floor that is connected to the flower component, I explored my pondering thoughts on an origin, God's plan, for this life journey full of meetings with people. Now, this ball contains about two miles of braided strands and I believe it will become longer as I continue to walk through this life journey.