Ten Pairs Gesture, 2025

Wood, chopsticks

The trace of shaving ten pairs chopsticks.

They’re shaved down again and again, gradually shifting from their original everyday form into something almost needle-thin. This process of “reducing” isn’t just about material being worn away — it also hints at a slow withdrawal from external desire.

In a Chinese cultural context, chopsticks already carry a kind of tension: they’re thin at the front and thicker at the back. One end reaches outward, making contact and pointing toward desire, while the other depends on control and restraint through the hand. As they’re repeatedly shaved, the traces of these actions are left behind. Over time, they stop being tools for taking from the outside world, and become more like records of looking inward.