He Fa on the Dunhuang Apsara

Long teal and vermilion-ochre clothing winds into opposing curves; a small floral crown sits on the high bun, and ribbons spread into several large loops behind me. A lotus beside the hand is quiet, while adult He Fa's body has visible volume and the feet meet a complete stone base. The Dunhuang apsara's signs of lightness are not canceled by this composed broad face, but now need an account of how they are supported.

I do not treat a flying pose as actual flight, or declare meanings for any mural. This character gives me a specific question: why do we so often call beautiful lightness weightless? Ribbons have fixed directions, folds meet, and the base has not been hidden. Seeing these conditions need not invalidate imagination; it can help people recognize how lightness is made.

If lightness is treated as innate, the work maintaining it disappears. When a body looks a little heavy, it is readily judged less than ideal. I am willing to interrupt that judgment with He Fa's broad cheeks and low eyelids. Volume need not mean only clumsiness; it can also give circling a center. Composure is not the absence of a load, but may be the rhythm that appears when a load receives suitable support.

The lotus has not enlarged with the ribbons, leaving a small scale within excessive movement. I let the long bands keep circling outside the body, without rushing to erase the stone base. If lightness still works, I hope it allows us to see its point of contact too. Acknowledging support is sometimes closer to freedom than pretending never to need the ground. The ribbons' turns also need a position where they will not entangle one another.