I’m of the Nature to Die
An installation on impermanence, grief, and the cycle of life
April 2024

This installation emerged in the wake of my father's death, as a meditation on absence, grief, and the tender impermanence of all things. At its center stood his empty wheelchair, a pair of worn slippers, his cane, and his wedding suit—soaked in water, slowly dripping, evoking the quiet persistence of tears and the spectral presence of the departed. The wetness lent a ghostly texture to the room, a sensory invocation of mourning and memory.

Surrounding these objects were selected quotes from sutras and Zen masters, reflecting on death and the ephemeral nature of life. Nearby, a bucket of water hung suspended above a delicate sandcastle, the drops falling slowly, inevitably, dissolving the form grain by grain. This small ritual echoed the playful yet poignant acts of children building sandcastles by the sea, undeterred by the waves that will wash them away. It was a quiet homage to the beauty of creation in the face of loss.

Beside the sandcastle, I placed tiny images—ultrasound of my unborn daughter, conceived shortly after my father’s passing. Her presence in the womb, tender and forming, stood in silent dialogue with the void he left behind.

In a nearby cupboard, a small altar was assembled in his memory: handwritten letters, cherished artifacts, and a vessel holding his ashes. This intimate space held the gravity of remembrance, while the entire installation gestured toward the continuity of life through death, the interweaving of joy and sorrow, presence and disappearance.

I’m of the Nature to Die is a contemplative space—a ritual of letting go, of holding close, and of choosing life again in the face of loss.

I then performed the performance Cosmic birth at the opening of the Exhibition.