MASEREEL

Sister Folding Laundry is a permanent mixed-media installation, placed in the flower meadow in front of MASEREEL on the occasion of the inaugural edition of RHIZOMA 2025 – Our Future Is To Live With Bruises.

The project was shaped by artist Pei-Hsuan Wang’s reflections on Kasterlee’s landscape, its histories and her own family’s migration. A story that particularly resonated with her was that of the nineteenth-century ‘landlopers’, forced migrants from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, outcasts who were displaced to carry out forced labour in the Kempen, tasked with cultivating the land. This history of migration, labour and the search for home echoed Wang’s own heritage and became central to the work.

Inspired by a photograph of her sister folding socks in her living room, Wang transformed this intimate moment into a luminous figure rendered in yellow stained glass, a deliberate choice to emphasize the Asian identity. The simple act of folding laundry speaks to domestic labour as a quiet ritual of homemaking, an attempt to bring a sense of comfort and belonging to the family.

The installation itself evokes a convergence of home and spirituality. The sister’s pose recalls that of a Buddha, while the architectural structure – reminiscent of a house, shrine, temple – further reinforces a sacred stillness. The stained-glass technique, with its echoes of church windows, infuses the work with a timeless, meditative quality. Despite its scale, the piece remains light and open, seamlessly integrating into the landscape rather than imposing upon it.

Rooted in themes of kinship, memory and migration, Wang’s work bridges the domestic and the spiritual, honouring the resilience of the diaspora and the quiet beauty of everyday life.