Close-up of a spider web with multiple intersecting silk threads, shot from below against a dark background.
A tangled black and gray rope on a dark surface against a dark background.
Close-up of a decorative art piece resembling a spider web with metal and thread, cast shadows on a gray wall.
An art installation of numerous black metal nails attached to a wall, with strings connecting them, creating a web-like pattern with shadows cast on the wall.
Close-up of a spider web with a small branch at the center, covered in dew drops, in a grayscale setting.

众 (we)

Studio Version - Spatial Installation, 2025

Variable size

Nails, Black nylon Chinese knotting cord, Black dye, Black paint

In 众 (we), I confront the homogeneity of thought imposed by collectivism, using braids as a metaphor for my lived experience within a collective society. Growing up in this context, I was inevitably woven into its ideological fabric—like strands bound into a tight braid, where individual identity dissolves into the collective. Attempting to break free is like pulling a single strand from the braid: nearly impossible, and not without consequence. The piece uses nylon cords traditionally found in Chinese knotting, each strand anchored to the wall with black-painted nails against a dark backdrop. The nails symbolize the inescapable anchoring of individuals within the collective—constraints imposed from birth that both define and confine. Black evokes the ideological uniformity of East Asian collectivism. This work materializes the tension between belonging and constraint, intimacy and erasure, reflecting on how collectivist forces shape identity while eroding autonomy.