Lin Tianmiao

One of only a few internationally recognized female artists from China, Lin Tianmiao (born 1961) is known for her innovative use of thread and embroidery as both medium and subject matter in her sculptures, photographs, videos and installations. When visiting China, after having lived in New York for most of her life, Tianmiao was reminded of the time spent in her childhood helping her mother sew clothes for the family. Prompted by this memory, the artist created a practice she calls “thread winding,” where she winds silk or cotton thread around an object until it is completely covered and eventually transformed. Bound Unbound, which accompanies the artist’s exhibition at the Asia Society in New York, surveys for the first time the past 20 years of Tianmiao’s work, including an interview with the artist and essays by leading scholars in Chinese contemporary art, Melissa Chiu and Guo Xiaoyan.

Along with the expansive title installation, Non Zero documents Lin Tianmiao's career to date, including the string-bound objects, threaded self-portraits and mannequins recently exhibited at the Shangahi Biennale. As a large hardcover bound in white silk with white type and covered in a white vellum dust jacket, Non Zero is a bright new milestone itself.