Beginning with a loose bundle of horsehair, the work gradually takes shape through repeated acts of binding. Cotton thread gathers and restrains the fibres, while layers of natural lacquer are applied over the thread. With each application, the lacquer hardens, reinforcing the binding and becoming an integral part of the structure. As the process unfolds, moments of tension are gradually fixed into form.
The work develops through intuition and embodied experience rather than a predetermined design. Its final form emerges through an ongoing negotiation between the body, the material, gravity, and the making process. Every gesture of wrapping, every layer of lacquer, and every response to the material contributes to the work's evolution.
For Miao, this gradual transformation echoes the ways identities are formed. Just as loose fibres are slowly gathered, reinforced, and fixed through repeated layers, bodies, gender, and identity are shaped through accumulated social expectations and systems of regulation. The work reflects on how structures of care and protection can also become mechanisms of discipline and restraint, leaving forms that appear stable while carrying the traces of continuous negotiation.
