One Life One Dream series, "Love" (巴黎一字一生系列 – 愛)

Hong Wai's "Love" represents a masterful convergence of traditional Chinese calligraphy and contemporary materiality. The piece, executed in delicate black lace, transforms the Chinese character for "love" into a three-dimensional sculptural form that hovers between textile art and calligraphic expression. The work demonstrates the artist's sophisticated understanding of negative space, with the lace material creating a gossamer-like rendering that casts intricate shadows, effectively doubling the visual narrative. The character's strokes, typically rendered with ink on paper, are here reimagined through the medium of lace, creating a dialogue between the ephemeral nature of emotion and the tangible qualities of textile. In this extraordinary piece, Hong Wai has accomplished something rather remarkable, man. She's taken the ancient discipline of Chinese calligraphy and propelled it into the contemporary discourse with absolutely electric results. The use of lace – historically associated with Western femininity and domesticity – to articulate an Eastern character creates this fascinating cultural intersection that simply vibrates with meaning.

Created By

Hong Wai