PALIMPSEST: WOMEN, TEXT, AND THE ACT OF SELF-INSCRIPTION
Artist & Works
Artist & Works
Liang Xi
Thea is a visual artist whose practice explores the intersection of body, memory, and political
history. With a background in spatial and visual design, her work investigates how power
and social structures leave invisible imprints on individual bodies
Ink Paper
Grandmother’s Bellybutton explores how political power leaves invisible scars on the body. The work focuses on my grandmother’s “second belly button,” a surgical trace from China’s one-child policy, hidden within family silence. Using rubbing instead of photography, I transform this scar into a ritual of remembrance—an imprint that is both intimate and historical. The project reflects on how collective trauma is preserved in individual bodies, and begins a series, Body Memory, which documents women’s bodily marks and stories, revealing how social structures quietly shape personal lives.
Grandma Bellybutten(2021)
Ink Paper
Grandmother’s Bellybutton explores how political power leaves invisible scars on the body. The work focuses on my grandmother’s “second belly button,” a surgical trace from China’s one-child policy, hidden within family silence. Using rubbing instead of photography, I transform this scar into a ritual of remembrance—an imprint that is both intimate and historical. The project reflects on how collective trauma is preserved in individual bodies, and begins a series, Body Memory, which documents women’s bodily marks and stories, revealing how social structures quietly shape personal lives.