give away

Give Away, 2022, Main Gallery, California Institute of the Arts

Performance

One, two, three, four... I'm counting. They are counting.

Who has been given away? The red balloons? Or the baby girls?

Given away. Adopted. Raised as a future daughter-in-law. It was my grandma. There were countless generations of women's stories carried as the tradition in her hometown. Was this stopped?

"We thought about giving you away to my sister's family, "my grandma said to my mother. But because my grandma was afraid that my mother couldn't grow up, in the end, she kept my mother and raised her. Was this stopped?

"Xixi----" Because of Alzheimer's disease, my grandma forgot who I was. So instead, she called me by my cousin's name. My cousin was my mother's sister's daughter and was given away before I was born. Was this stopped?

Two weeks ago, an abandoned baby girl was found beside the dumpsters on the sidewalk in Quanzhou, Fujian, China. Would this be stopped?

Five, six, seven, eight... I'm counting. They are counting.

Who has been kept? The black balloons? Or the baby boys?