Aymei Wang
Մատեան
In Exhale
17.02.2026 / 18:30
18-21.02 / 16:00-20:00
Expanding on her themes of “the land as one’s skin” and “body as border,” Aymei Wang explores the entanglement of books, skin, and records.
Before the advent of paper, ancient manuscripts relied on animal skin, vellum, as their material substrate. The connection between manuscripts and skin can also be traced through the etymology of the Latin word liber, meaning book. Liber later gave way to a plurality of resonances, connecting not only books to skin (as seen in the peeling nature of leper), but also to the idea of freedom (liberty). Originally designating the inner bark of a tree used for writing, liber also meant “freed,” as the bark is cut from the trunk. In this sense, the meaning of “freedom” is inextricable from that of “severance.”
In Armenian history, this difficult duality has been lived for centuries. During the Genocide, alongside its people, countless Armenian books were destroyed. Historically, Armenian Manuscripts (Մատեան, Matean) are intimately tied to the chronicles of exile. They were saved by women, refugees, and priests who carried them while fleeing. Stories of loss and survival, they carry the heart of Armenian culture; they are records of a people who live on, in spite of all.
Yet, since the Genocide, another form of record has emerged: the archives of deportation, displacement, and forced migration. With no country to return to, the archives at consulates and border controls reveal a hollowed portrait: a repository of absence, documenting the displaced and the departed.
The second half of the title, tle, “In Exhale”, serves as a phonetic mirror to the locution “In Exile.”
If exile is the shadow of the title, to exhale is a form of release; it is the moment one begins to
catch their breath and let go of tension, pain. The artworks, created using beeswax, exhale a
scent into the room. They share the perfume of prayers and the scent of a homeland. Beyond
loss, fragrance acts as an invisible presence, a continuity that exists beyond borders.
@39th.day 
