The project is inspired by a historical reality in southern China. In mountain regions where roads were nearly impossible to build, rivers became the only transport routes. The strong currents and steep banks made river hauling extremely dangerous; massive cargo boats could only progress when dragged manually along the banks by dozens of workers. A single misstep could easily cost someone their life.

Among these laborers were women who undertook the same back-breaking and perilous work in order to support their families. Exposed to relentless heat, working bare-chested, they pulled the heavy ropes with strength born out of a need for survival. Yet, these women have largely been erased from historical memory. Their labor, endurance, and presence went unacknowledged because the strength of women was undervalued and unrecorded.

L’espérant centers on these forgotten female workers to bring their long-buried memories back into the light.

Note: This project is part of my series on Arduino-based works utilizing sensor interaction. Another work, Plant, employed an Arduino Uno with light, temperature, and humidity sensors to create a plant-connected, interactive sound system that generated musical changes in an algorithmic patch based on environmental variations.
Link: https://youtu.be/jQH0vAf6Mjw?si=e05Co0H6qTDXCsGu