The Weight of Disappearance (2024-Ongoing)
The Weight of Disappearance is a site-specific self-portrait consisting of three forms—cast in the footprint of my apartment—with a total mass of 170 lbs to match my body weight. I developed a custom material for these sculptures using a mixture of tapioca starch, sand, and native seeds from the three places to which I am tied: Taiwan, Toronto, and New York. Through iterative testing, I engineered this binder to be sturdy enough to maintain its structural integrity while remaining fully water-soluble. Once "planted" in my three former New York neighborhoods, these sculptures function as biological clocks, dissolving and germinating to compost my physical presence back into the urban fabric.
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.
Materials: Tapioca Starch, Native Seeds 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 (DLCA) in partnership with the City Council, and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC).
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 (DLCA) in partnership with the City Council, and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). 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, whom I lost to suicide in September 2025 following a long, quiet battle with the compounding weights of isolation and depression. His memory remains the foundational architecture of this work.
