The door, by Htein Lin

The Door

Htein Lin had been reading about planets, orbital paths, and the idea of humans living in space during the Cold War. That inspired him to build a space station in his mind, far far away from Earth. He tried to capture it on cloth, and began by experimenting with the monoprint technique using three or four broken pieces of mirror glass to apply paint. Then he scratched into the smooth painted surface with a stick, creating lines before printing the image onto fabric.

He did not set out to draw a door, but when the piece was finished, that was what he named it. The shapes and lines had started to resemble the heavy iron prison doors he opened and closed every single day. His daily routine had found its way into his work, such that when his cellmates looked at it, they said, “That’s exactly like our door.” And they were right. So, although he thought he was drawing a space station, what emerged was the door he was living behind, in his own space.