
before the hand
was put to work
there was the tail.
a body once spoke
without permission.
the hand
began to hold,
to build,
to measure,
to produce.
the tail
did not.
it moved
before movement
required a reason.
it confessed
before language arrived.
the hand
learned discipline.
it signs contracts,
builds walls,
counts hours,
points toward tomorrow.
the tail
answers no question.
it knows only
how fear bends,
how longing sways,
how exhaustion hangs
closer to the ground.
we call this
evolution.
perhaps
it was only
another order.
the hand
entered it.
the tail
remained
outside it.
yet every gesture
that exceeds
its function,
every touch
that asks
for nothing,
every act of care
left unaccounted for,
every affection
that refuses
to become value,
the tail
remembers.
Huidi Xiang (b. 1995, Chengdu, China) is a sculptor based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the Hill Art Foundation (New York, NY), Mattatuck Museum (Waterbury, CT), Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art (Buffalo, NY), Bronx Museum of the Arts (Bronx, NY), YveYANG Gallery (New York, NY), KAJE (Brooklyn, NY), and Contemporary Calgary (Calgary, Canada). She has presented commissioned works at the Jing’an International Sculpture Project (Shanghai, China, 2024), X Museum Triennial (Beijing, China, 2023), and OCAT Biennale (Shenzhen, China, 2021).
Huidi has participated in artist residency programs including the Bronx Museum AIM Fellowship, Lighthouse Works Fellowship, NARS Foundation International Residency Program, and Millay Arts Residency Program. She holds an MFA in Art from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Architecture from Rice University.
