Sophie Chao

Artist Statement:
This artwork depicts a horse painted on pieced canvas panels and veiled in red mesh, its form and horizon bound by hand stitching. The horse, often tied to freedom, the Western genre, and global power, is shown instead in confinement. Extra legs weigh it down, becoming burdens rather than sources of mobility. Installed at the center of the space, viewers see both the painted front and the stitched back. This reverse view reduces the vibrant figure to a ghostly outline, emphasizing labor and restraint over freedom.