Passion of the Cut Sleeve

Silk, thread, wood, hardware

38 x 15 x 11 inches

2022

Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty had a meeting to attend but didn’t want to wake his sleeping lover, so he cut his sleeve in order to slip his arm out without disrupting him. When he entered the meeting, the other men saw this as an honorable action, and proceeded to cut one sleeve off of their own shirts as well.

As a queer Asian woman, exploring stories of homosexuality in ancient Asia has been so helpful in shaping and understanding my own identity. To bring this story to light, I hung single sleeves in a formation which loosely resembles a blooming flower.