Negotiated Skin emerged from my experience of cervical surgery, when physical pain and emotional vulnerability became inseparable. Without depicting injury directly, the work translates rupture into a material condition: something that can stretch, soften, tear, be reinforced, and continue to change.

The exhibition brings together handwoven textiles, protein-based biomaterial membranes, soft sculpture, suspended installation, and collaborative work with threeASFOUR. I work with hand-reeled silk, wool, natural plant fibers and dyes, discarded fruit and vegetable skins, gelatin, and silk protein. These materials move between skin, textile, garment, and environment.

Repair remains visible throughout the work. A dropped stitch, weakened edge, or membrane that begins to sag can become a site of attention rather than something to hide. Ongoing dialogue with biomedical researcher Dr. Liwen Zhang, whose work engages biomaterials in tissue-repair contexts, has deepened the way I think about reinforcement, vulnerability, and care.

The project also explores the potential of protein-based membranes as biodegradable alternatives to petroleum-derived synthetic surfaces. Instead of proposing a finished replacement for plastic, I am interested in a different material future in which origin, behavior, repair, and eventual return become part of the design process.

As these materials move from the body into space, they retain traces of touch without representing the body literally. Negotiated Skin considers skin not as a fixed boundary, but as something continually negotiated between protection and exposure, fragility and resilience, body and environment.