I still cannot let go of the desire of a unity, a non-separation, a merging with others. There is the desire of getting somewhere and the futility of meaningless attempts or erasing separation, otherness, boundary, space, or gap. The inability to accept the absence makes me think of trying to sit on a chair that does not exist, put things on a table that does not exist, and hang things on a hook that does not exist. Their absence shows a loss of support and the repetition of the attempts only to fall suggests I am unable to accept the separation.[1] The visual of falling is inspired by Mona Hatoum’s Under Siege.[2] The effect of absence is influenced by Jennifer Doyle’s writing about Franko B’s I Miss You!:

In walking down the aisle alone, Franko B performs a union with an absence, for an audience. In this sense, the performance locates itself in the agonistics of the melodramatic conclusion as one attempts to absorb loss, the gap between what one wants and what one has.[3]

Other is a mediation to feel my existence while I am unable to differentiate them, which reminds me of the illusion a camera, also a mediation to see oneself, can cause, like the illusion of complete unity other may provide self. The illusion of sitting on a chair, putting a cup on a table, and hanging clothes on a rack while everything falls but I keep trying is showed in the series of moving images, Quit It.

[1] Eirini Kartsaki, Repetition in Performance: Returns and Invisible Forces (London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 2017).

[2] ‘Under Siege’, Mona Hatoum (1982) http://www.reactfeminism.org/entry.php?l=lb&id=65&wid=290&e=t&v=&a=&t= [Accessed 17 July 2021].

[3] Jennifer Doyle, Hold It Against Me: Difficulty and Emotion in Contemporary Art (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013).

QUIT IT

Whiteout
Moving Images
Duration: 27:40
2023

WHITEOUT

The dependence of my self-existence on others is the reason why I am holding on to the relationship although it is hurting me. It falls to a conflict of holding on to an illusion of self-existence and its damage to my actual existence.[1] In the series of moving images, Hold/Held, I use mirror to stand for the fragile relationship as a mediation for self-existence. The physical state where the body cannot move unless dropping and breaking the mirror held on to is inspired by Erwin Wurm’s photographic sculptures.[2] The capture of separate body parts fits better in the idea of using pieces of mirror to see oneself and creates a sense of fragmented existence instead of wholeness, which shows the body lacks self-domination further. The position is set to be holding and kissing that indicates the theme of relationship. The use of the medium of moving images instead of still images demonstrates the difficulty of holding better.

[1] ‘A Narcissist’s Love Letter’, John Howell (25 May 2013) https://thoughtcatalog.com/john-w-howell/2013/05/a-narcissists-love-letter/[Accessed 25 February 2021].

[2] ‘One Minute Sculpture’, Erwin Wurm (1997) https://www.erwinwurm.at/artworks/photographic-sculptures.html [Accessed 23 March 2021].

HOLD/HELD

MONADS explores the state of self-existence where the parts cannot be connected to become or transform to a whole body, while their increasing amount only adds to the degree of mess or confusion.

The idea of speaking as material continually shifting is influenced by Mary Kelly’s book, Dialogue: On the Politics of Voice. The installation view of projection so that there is no clear physical edge the work can relate to is inspired by Marlene Duma’s book, Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave.

Eva Wang

全部作品46

QUIT IT

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HOLD/HELD

HOLD/HELD

HOLD/HELD

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CARPET

PAPER

A SINK OF WATER