Four Seasons

By Aodan

Thread Wrapping Flower (also known as Chanhua缠花) I make is a traditional Chinese craft art of wrapping silk threads onto paper cuts; it originated in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and thrived during Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912), combining multiple art forms including sculpture, embroidery, and paper cutting. Chanhua has been designated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of China. Chanhua is a breathtakingly exquisite art yet almost a dead art just like Latin as a “dead language”. It could only be spotted in women’s hair when they need hair pieces matching their traditional attires. Like all the other crafty arts, it seems that it is left out by the art community, being considered nothing more than an usable object, so it has been rejected by the modern art community.

It is too crafty for modern art, too feminine for men, too unfamiliar to foreigners, too “Chinese” to the Westerns, and too time consuming for mass production. Yet still I treasure it by carrying on perfecting it as it is a precious memory passed down to us with the remained temperature from fingertips.