This work, "Micro Economy", is a new piece from my long-term collaboration with
the Hong Kong Women Workers' Society. These women were core laborers of
society during Hong Kong's manufacturing boom in 1970's and 1980's. Displaced
from their sewing jobs by restructuring, many of them are part-time cleaning ladies
nowadays. In response, this project 'recycles' them back into their historic industry.

The capital for the project comes from my artist's fee, which funds the former
garment workers to help me construct the "Meditation Tent." We constructed this
tent – as an asylum too – from recycled umbrella fabric. After all, we are still in this
mortal world. Whether in self-practicing meditation or looking for shelter, the tent
provides a space of refuge, a temporary destination that can stop other kinds of time.

Since 2008, I have developed several sewing projects [parachute, 6-meter paper
plane, school uniform skirt, mobile book shelves, bike bags…], doing one person's
part to reactivate the 'Fabrication Industry' in Hong Kong. Under the banner of 'Art',
the micro-realities of these relational aesthetics generate our communities, making
links we might not otherwise live.

We share stories and sympathies: over the past 10 years, we can observe not only how
the industry of our society has changed from 'producing' to 'serving and providing',
but how industrial relations in the art scene have also changed, from the production of
artwork to generation of 'creativity'.

Does transforming these discarded objects – broken umbrellas – into functional forms
and usable things serve to reorient perspectives for an audience considering what do
we need? And what do we not?