Rumor had it that Nagini was displayed in some cities in China long long ago. Its disproportionate head-to-body ratio disturbed the audiences. Before every showcase, the narrator made similar introductions of her:

“A girl was kidnapped by an enormous viper on her way home, later who gave birth to this ‘monster’. The villagers saw the creature as a misfortune, forcing the girl to abandon Nagini. A circus passed by and adopted her out of mercy. The half-snake girl repaid the circus by making a fortune of showcasing her body”

As half-snake goddesses could easily be found among numerous mythologies, I located a black, temple column in a white showroom, to obtain an impression of equilibrium of evil and justice. The column was designed by merging the shape of Roman Doric and the concept of magic box, with a volume that allowed one person squatting inside it. It harnessed the principle of optical illusion by mirror reflection to acquire an image of a half-snake girl. The box was painted thoroughly in black, with a device inside whispering the sound of a snake molting. Combined with the small bells hanging on the dreadlocks, it forms an impression of Nagini. Two guards posted on each side of the column, protecting the half-snake girl, and informed the audience at the end of the performance: “Nagini woke up from a dream, now she will sink back to it.”

Although the myth was unreal, many girls in our real world still face similar situations everyday. Violence against women never stops, which may be far more horrifying than the fictional nightmare of the half-snake girl. Therefore, I roleplayed Nagini and told this story to the audience in the language of snake. No one knew what Nagini said, but everyone knew the rest.

许多年前，中国的一些城镇会有半人半蛇的表演，因为头和蛇身比例不协调，十分诡异。人头蛇在表演前，旁边的人会简单介绍她的身世，几乎大同小异。很久以前，有个女孩在回家的路上被大蛇缠住后掳走，生下了这人头蛇身的“怪物”，村里的人都觉得不吉利，强迫女孩抛弃了人头蛇，被好心的马戏团遇到，才活到今天。为了报答马戏团的养育之恩，人头蛇于是出来赚钱卖艺。虽然故事是虚拟的，但是类似的事情每天都在这个世界的角落发生，针对女性的暴力，从未消失，现实比噩梦更可怕，于是我扮演成这个形象，用蛇的语言向观众讲述这个故事。

道具盒子将罗马柱的形象与魔术盒子结合，设计了只能由一个人半蹲在内的柱式结构，利用镜子营造视错觉，呈现人头蛇身的形象。柱子通体黑色，内部隐约发出蛇蜕皮的声音，结合脏辫中的铃铛，变成响尾蛇女妖。许多神话都有半人半蛇的传说，让人联想到女娲伏羲和戈耳工女妖、伊甸园的蛇等，于是我将神庙里的柱子用黑色装饰，放置在白色展馆内，塑造亦正亦邪的观感，柱子两侧的守卫，保护着人头蛇，同时作为表演结束音，由他们告诉观众，半妖从梦里醒来，结束时也回到梦里去了。