#13 Mitochronia : Participants : Huan Wang
'Untitled'. Mixed Media. 2026

In Anogia, I saw a pair of eyes.

I looked into them and stayed there, feeling something familiar in his gaze. Then tears began to roll down my face. They carried the same look as my grandfather’s. Before consciousness, emotion has already touched the edge of memory. I remember the shape of the tears.

They seemed to scatter across the mountains, staining the oxalis with black. There are oranges everywhere on Crete, yet they hold no juice. The olive trees resemble the tears formed by the island itself. The black olives taste bitter and sour, resting on the grey mountains, soft like moss. Although the climate is warm and humid, the landscape, when seen from a distance, feels dry, as if it lacks moisture. The acidity of the land carries memory, remembering every trace of our touch.

The story condenses into the tears of the sariki:
Sariki, the Cretan headscarf,
with dense fringes like tears
It was once called Petsa, meaning skin—a shawl, .
moved from body to head—
wrapped and fixed in place
black falls—
lips pressed,
xiníla,
a bitter taste of pride

Huan Wang (b. 1994) is a textile artist from Guangdong, China, currently based in London. Her practice focuses on ephemeral textile installations in collaboration with natural environments, particularly rivers. Her work critically engages with site responsive narratives and the dynamic relationship between nature and human-engineered landscapes.

Wang uses cotton jersey and unbleached calico, materials that are industrially produced, yet hold deep symbolic resonance in her practice, acting as traces of her interaction with the natural environment. Her textile installations incorporate natural elements such as river water, mud, and fallen leaves, which she collects and returns, creating ephemeral traces in the landscape.

Wang's practice is rooted in her personal experiences and the landscapes she inhabits. Through her installations, Wang challenges the permanence of human-engineered structures, such as dams, river locks, and dock stairs. She renames these structures with fragile fabrics, recontextualizing them as dynamic, movable boundaries that ebb and flow with nature. Through her textiles, Wang revives the essence of these ancient names, stitching together fragmented landscapes and forgotten memories to reflect on our status shifting with time and space.

‘ WE ’ are but fragile and transient materials.

Website: https://www.wanghuan.art/