Between Departures

2025

Inspired by the work of Do Ho Suh, my project explores themes of identity, nostalgia, and transcultural migration through the metaphor of a transparent suitcase. Since 2018, I’ve been moving regularly between China and the U.S., each time packing my life into three oversized suitcases. This repetitive act of packing has come to represent a transitional space—both physically and emotionally—between departure and arrival, familiarity and change.

The suitcase, reimagined as a transparent shell, becomes a vessel not just for belongings, but for fragments of my identity and memory. As an object of intimacy, delicate lingerie is transformed here into a sculptural element, merged with the rigid patterns and seams of luggage construction.

This project interrogates the boundaries between public and private, soft and structured, East and West. Through hybrid forms and material layering, I aim to express the invisible weight of migration—the quiet negotiations of identity, memory, and belonging carried across borders.
transparent suitcase
revealing the inside of suitcase
draping lingerie with suitcase
integrating the pattern of my 28” suitcase with half-packed tank top
transparent suitcase dress
pack and unfold
draping underwear with two sewn organdy suitcases
draping underwear with two sewn organdy suitcases
draping underwear with two sewn organdy suitcases
draping underwear with two sewn organdy suitcases