Father's Kitchen

The kitchen built for Father

April — September 2025 · Lashihai, Lijiang

The new kitchen built for him was constructed by me and the caregiver over these six months, by hand.

I designed every detail: the stovetop height to suit a wheelchair, cabinet doors easy to pull open, non-slip flooring, sufficient light. I imagined him sitting in his wheelchair, watching me make him a bowl of hot soup — the way he used to make it for me when I was small.

Every day, besides caring for him, I was doing renovation. Laying bricks, painting walls, installing cabinets, choosing tiles. Watching the kitchen take shape little by little, like watching a dream about to come true.

I did not realise I was building a consolation for myself.

The farewell to my father was cruel and beautiful — unlike the farewell to my mother.

For six months, the artist stopped all creative work and devoted himself entirely to caring for his dying father. At the same time, he recorded daily life in charcoal: the state of his father regressing to a three-year-old child — the details of feeding, changing diapers, assisting with bodily functions — alongside the process of building a kitchen, a bedroom, and a garden for his father with his own hands.

This is a record that cannot be called a "work." It is the most honest emotional archive.