it’s something about being a physical thing with other physical things
and you’re the one with presumed dominance
but the other physical things have properties you don’t
you can’t slide along a surface
you can’t be color on a surface running through the spaces between threads in fabric
you can’t splatter yourself onto something
onto paper
but you can take up these substances
you can choose them
mix them prepare them
you can apply them
mark them up
dig grooves in them with your fingers
smear them with the heel of your hand
your parts your physical presence works with their physical presence
your properties work with their properties
your properties join with the properties of materials you select
the materials have sentience
they have their own dominance
you make choices you move them about
they have their own mind their own will

In a post-human era you can acknowledge the being the will the mind of the materials
you can take hold with the materials in the communication of a thing that you are all doing together

The materials call to be used. You respond by taking them up. You use the materials. A physical object is the outcome. The object relates other things, it has its own sentience, its own will, the object speaks its own mind independent of you and the materials.