Lisha Zhong

Year: 2024

Dimensions: 300 x 300 x 10 cm

Materials: grandmother’s fabric, newspaper, dye

The classic Chinese knot is exceedingly prevalent to the point of feeling overused in modern China. They adorn restaurants, gift shops and trinkets as a visual token for wealth and good fortune. However, in the context of Buddhism, the Pan Chang knot [盘长结] symbolises the eternal cycle.

To break away from its typically glossy and mass-produced appearance, I used my late grandmother’s fabric to create this form. Immortalising the time we spent together, a time that had no beginning nor end for my childhood-self. These were the patterns used on her curtains and bedding, imprinted on my memories of us.

The external braiding is made from the same material as the red body, but torn into strips, manipulated into a continuous loop of chain stitching and left undyed. To wrap is to hold together, however meaningless and futile. The read and the white, reminiscent of flesh and bone. The awkward stuffing of newspaper, filled with texts of yesterdays no longer needed today.

Shown in:
Take-Away (2024)