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Nien-yi is going to challenge the idea of touching art works. Nien-yi has been always specially attached to the feeling of touching rough objects when she was little. Even now when she sees art works in gallery, she always has a strong drive to touch the art works, which is of course forbidden in order to protect the works; however, the more they forbid her to touch, the more she desires to touch. Tessa Dalley (2008) says: “Failure of attachment, that is, lack of affectional bonding between a baby and its caretaker, or the loss of a primary attachment, leads to separation anxiety. The baby experiences depressive feelings during the weaning process. The object being mourned is the mother’s breast which is felt by the baby to be lost due to his own uncontrollable and destructive fantasies and impulses.”

In terms of art expression, yes we have sculpture, which sometime you can touch. But since touching is one of the most primordial ways that humans have to understand the world, intrigue emotions and process impulses, why has this sensation often been absent from the vast majority of art works? Nien-yi Chiang allows her works to be touched by viewers and she would like to make those marks and presence a part of her work.

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