Sculpting Care
Community Art (2023)
Run Ze Feng
Sculpting Care is a participatory public art activity. Two large-scale white Chinese character models were installed at the site, spelling "guānhuái"(关怀 means care in Chinese). Residents were invited to use marker pens to write or draw their interpretations of care directly onto the blank character structures. As more people engaged, the once-white characters became increasingly covered with diverse colors, handwriting patterns, images, and lines, continuously manifesting the abstract notion of care into tangible forms. I describe the act of participants marking the characters as a metaphor for sculpting care. While it appears that people are interpreting the meaning of care, it is equally true that care interprets each participant in return.
The process of inscribing personal understandings onto care activates participants’ lived experiences and memories tied to it. They mentally sift through relationships, moments, and emotions linked to care, distilling these into words or symbols to be permanently "carved" onto the characters. In other words, what Seems like we humans shaping "care" is ultimately "care" shaping us. This reciprocal shaping extends beyond participants and the characters to include the public observing the process. Onsite, many participants stood pensively with marker pens in hand, contemplating, sketching, pausing, and revisiting their contributions. Some returned after leaving to add more, even bringing friends to join. Spectators — children, elders, parents with toddlers — gradually transitioned into active contributors