Land is often called “mother,” nurturing all life and providing a foundation for generations. Yet in traditional Chinese society, women have long been denied the right to own it. This past summer, I returned to my rural hometown in Sichuan to settle a land inheritance issue. During that process, I met many women who had lost their rightful claims due to lingering historical restrictions. Their stories showed me that although the law has improved, many deeply rooted social norms still oppress women and are not easily overturned.
Traditionally, women’s relationship to land has always been defined by men. They cannot receive their own shares; before marriage, they depend on their fathers, and afterward, they belong to their husbands’ households. This “mother” who nourishes all life, it seems, has never truly belonged to women. Through thisinstallation, I explore this contradiction. Condoms filled with breast milk hang in nets, symbolizing women’s nurturing role. As the milk slowly drips, it both feeds the land and suggests the depletion and loss of resources. When it runs dry, the condoms shrivel and burst, like discarded tools of population control—pointing directly to women’s objectification within the rules of society.