My work Death by 10,000 Papercuts uses recovered commercial fishing net, 10,000 zip ties and silk sari yarn to illuminate the impact of the daily microaggressions I experience at work and the world at large..
The term, Death by a thousand cuts is derived from a form of Chinese torture known as lingchi, where a person is subjected to hundreds of small cuts until death occurs.
If you get one papercut, it is uncomfortable, but the wound eventually heals.
Imagine getting multiple paper cuts on a daily basis. Small cuts upon cuts upon cuts. This is what microaggressions feels like. You will not die from one paper cut, but the experience of multiple insults, both verbal, nonverbal, and/ visual underpins very real consequences for me… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of invisibility and powerlessness.