Xingyu Wang

Other Hands: Tools of Anti-Tool explores how tools of labour embody both exploitation and social value.The term anti-tool refers to uses of tools that go beyond their conventional functional meanings.It redefines tools not as instruments of labour, but as mediums of agency — through which marginalized workers express resistance, wisdom, and survival — a personal act of refusal or protest.

Tools are not merely physical objects we use to complete a task - they are material symbols that reveal how society classifies and values different kinds of work.

Focusing on the lived experiences of marginalised workers, the project collected stories from real workers and uses toilet paper as both medium and metaphor - soft, replaceable, and disposable, mirroring how the emotions and voices of these workers are often overlooked or discarded.

By collecting an archive of anti-tools, the work honours workers’ agency and subjectivity, documenting acts of resistance through the re-use and re-creation of everyday tools.

Visitors are invited to interact with the toilet-paper archive, unfolding layers of stories and reflection, and to reconsider the social systems that make essential labour both indispensable and invisible.This project also carries a zine that gathers the stories of workers — a collection of deeper, often overlooked experiences. Through an accessible and intimate format, the project brings their voices into public view, allowing more people to encounter the emotions, struggles, and strength behind everyday labour.