Installation | The remaining packages of the covid home test kit from 50 tests in the last 50 quarantine days and the only wool left in the studio in Shanghai
Performance Video |7:15
Today is my 54th day of quarantine in Shanghai and I finally went out doing a covid test in the outfit I made from the covid home test kits. It was a foggy day and raining lightly. I didn't know I would be this uncomfortable and insecure when I was making it. The plastic package rubbed against my body as I walked, making my skin protest and growl at me with every step I took. The exposed skin was wet and cold because of the rain, while the body wrapped in clothes was sweating. This feeling of being hot and cold at the same time is quite new, but it's not something I want to experience anymore.
The daily home test and the every-other-day official test had become a new body routine that is similar to a menstrual cycle. I was like the last crimson wool left in my studio, trapped in an airtight, transparent recycling bag, feeling a suffocating cycle. Such a cycle is regular and even a bit OCD-looking, but it leaves eczema and scratches on my body.