The Weight of Disappearance
The Weight of Disappearance is a self-portrait in three parts. Each sculpture is cast in the footprint of my apartment, and together they weigh 170 lbs, my body weight. They’re made of tapioca starch, native seeds and spores from Taiwan, Toronto, and New York, sand, hemp fibres, twigs, vegetable glycerin, and white vinegar. These include wild bergamot, New England aster, and lady fern. The seeds include wild bergamot, New England aster, and lady fern. Seeds from Taiwan can’t legally enter the U.S., so the lady fern stands in, a relative of ferns that grow there.
The binder is strong enough to hold its shape but dissolves in water. The sculptures are planted in neighbourhoods I’ve called home and left to the city. People are always moving in and out of New York, and this is a way of preparing for my own leaving. Rain wears them down, plants take root, and what’s left returns to the ground. They may also be removed, kicked over, or eaten by rats.
This site here: https://theweightofdisappearance.site/ follows what happens to them. It’s a record of where my weight goes
A public planting event will take place in Lower Manhattan in the Winter of 2026 as part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement Award.
Year: 2025-Ongoing
Materials: Tapioca starch, native seeds and spores from Taiwan, Toronto, and New York, sand, hemp fibres, twigs, vegetable glycerin, and white vinegar
Dimensions: 24” x 13” x 10”
This project is made possible in part with funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council, and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC).
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.
Thank you to Green Oasis Garden for hosting this planting.
Special thanks to all the people who have been by my side during the entire making of this project: Joy Kim, Caroline Shehan, Rafaella Fontenelle, Nele Jäger, Lotte Leerschool, Mom & Dad, my family in Taiwan, Jingzhe Lu, Kenneth Tam, María-Elena Pombo, Kian McKeown, Isaac Leahey-Leow, and the staff at Smack Mellon (Maryam Chadury, Rachel Steinberg, and Kathleen Grailin).
This project is dedicated to my first best friend and older brother, Isaac Jin-Ray Li (1998–2025), whom I lost to suicide in September 2025. His memory remains the foundational architecture of this work.
