Flee as a bird to your mountain

In the summer of 2021, I went through Carrara with a birdcage on my head. The city was still affected by COVID, and I remained there alone for several months. As an Asian lady in a small Italian town, I frequently felt visible and alienated. I carried the cage around regular places including open markets, residential lanes, and local stores. I strolled barefoot on the road, waited at bus stations, went into a Chinese supermarket, and periodically stopped to listen to elderly guys conversing on street corners. These actions were basic, but they altered how I used space.

This was not a rehearsed performance, but rather an arts-based inquiry. I didn't explain what I was doing to bystanders. I wanted to examine how the act of walking, with a birdcage that implied both care and captivity, could elicit subtle responses from myself and others. People gazed at times, while others did not respond at all. These tiny interactions become part of the work.

Walking, compared to transit systems such as trains, autos, and subways, which need speed and efficiency, is a slower, more irregular means of participation. Each step disturbs the flow of urban logic, reclaiming the body's right to pause, observe, and become vulnerable.  Walking connects various fragments: an overheard conversation, a blocked path and a moment of indifference. In this work, walking was about staying in uncertainty rather than attaining a destination.