Material re-materialization refers to the process of transforming transient forms into durable carriers through cross-media technical means—such as digital scanning, additive manufacturing, and traditional casting. In The Epic on Palm, this process is not merely a technical transition but a cultural compensation for the "material transience" historically associated with Nüshu.
Technical Process and Metaphor:
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Alginate Molding & Plaster Cast \* Process: Alginate is used to rapidly capture the biological features of the human hand, which is then cast into a plaster model.
Metaphor: The fragility of the alginate and the stark whiteness of the plaster capture the momentary life-state of women as laborers and nurturers. -
Digital Intermediation: 3D Scanning & Printing \* Process: The plaster hand is digitized via 3D scanning, and a precise physical mold prototype is generated through 3D printing.
Metaphor: Digital technology serves as a bridge between the past and the future, converting once-invisible traces of labor into a digital archive that can be edited and preserved. -
Ceramic Casting: The Baptism of Fire \* Process: Plaster molds are created from the 3D-printed prototype, followed by slip casting with ceramic slurry and high-temperature kiln firing.
Metaphor: This stage directly responds to the Nüshu tradition of "funerary burning". Forms and scripts that were originally destined to be destroyed by fire instead gain permanence through the ceramic process. -
Shard Refinement & Inscription Process: The ceramic is processed into extremely thin shards, upon which Nüshu characters are manually inscribed.
Metaphor: These paper-thin ceramic shards mimic the lightness of traditional Nüshu carriers like fans and fabrics, yet their material hardness symbolizes the indelible resilience found within female mutual aid networks.
Application in The Epic on Palm:
Cross-temporal Dialogue: By using 3D scanning to capture the hands of modern women and firing them into shards bearing ancient Nüshu script, the work achieves a cross-temporal overlap of laboring identities.
From Fragility to Solidity: The evolution of materials—from the "softness" of alginate to the "brittleness" of plaster, the "virtuality" of the digital model, and finally the "solidity" of ceramic—maps the transformation of women's social roles from marginal passivity to active narration.
Tactility and Memory: The light passing through the translucent ceramic shards evokes memories of the Nüshu documents lost to fire, allowing the material itself to become a witness to history.
Sources:
Bray, F. (1997). Technology and Gender: Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China.
Chiang, W. W. (1995). We Two Know the Script; We Have Become Good Friends: Linguistic and Social Aspects of the Women’s Script Literacy in Southern Hunan, China.
Federici, S. (2004). Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation.
Miller, D. (2010). Stuff.
Zhao, L. (2005). Nüshu: A Unique System of Women's Writing in China.