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Superposed Tongue

SiSi Zhang · Jan 1, 2026

Materials: Rice, incense, rice steaming cloth

Working in a Japanese onigiri shop requires a precise choreography of care and language that differs from my domestic life. By bringing the non-native multilingual phrases I repeat daily at the workplace into the gallery space, I aim to visualize the gradual osmosis of spaces, where linguistic boundaries and fixed identities soften. The incense functions as a ritual gesture, activating this overlap of environments. As the phrases burn, their residue is transferred onto the rice I eat and serve both at work and at home. The marks left on the rice persist as a lingering exhaust, slowly permeating the languages, spaces, and food that sustain my body, until speech, place, and nourishment begin to merge across work and home, and the body becomes disoriented.