swallow(ing)

2024–ongoing
paper, saliva, handwritings, testing tubes, glass jar, monofilament dimensions variable

Swallowing embodies the silent pain we often suppress as it travels down our throats. Swallows, in contrast, create their nests from saliva—an act of reversed swallowing that constructs a sense of home.

In this participatory experience, I invited individuals to engage in two interconnected activities:

•Write down their swallowed pain on a piece of paper, fold it into the shape of an origami swallow, and release into a large swallow installation. In return, they received an empty pre-folded origami swallow as a keepsake.

•Contribute a sample of saliva into a collecting tube, reflecting on their swallowed pain while spitting out.

The collected saliva was later combined into a communal jar, alongside one folded origami swallow. This merging of individual contributions represented a collective act of resistance and reconstruction—a shared process of creating a new sense of home from what was once withheld. Over time, the acidity of the saliva gradually softened and unfolded the origami, erasing its delicate form. This slow dissolution mirrored the fragility and impermanence of both pain and the structures we build to contain or express it.