PENUMBRA Members Gallery | Chia Yun Wu
Wu’s multimedia approach to her photographs announces a metaphorical insertion of herself into multiple phases of making each image. Bold red and white spray paint serve as obstructions (or protections) in the land. Her repeatedly drawn circles that cover a group (family?) time-stamped portrait becomes a transgressive, obsessive, locating mark, while the portrait floats as an inset or an island within a large, white (empty?) space. A photograph of drops of water on a photograph practically implies a careful hand dripping within the silhouette of the sitting subject. Within this collection of images, one may also imagine a kinship. Perhaps these drops can also be an accumulation of rain or splashes from waves washing ashore from all the photographs of fogs, clouds and oceans throughout her series, mother-land.
-Hernease Davis
About mother-land:
Taiwan has been isolated from the world due to its political issues with China. Questions of independence, identity, and territory never have clear answers. This lonely island is surrounded by the ocean, waves, and tears. To the people who are waiting to be recognized as an independent nation, the image of water has become a symbol of fluidity, unsettlement, and confusion. I seek to deconstruct these liquid elements by reconstructing a solemn, while hopeful, map.
As an immigrant recently moved to the USA, the relationships between family, homeland, and the world have become my lifelong obsession. This project represents the sensation of alienation, exploring the state of contradiction that exists between freedom and burden. I have been using snapshots of my separated parents, family, and landscapes to visualize the clips from the stream of consciousness. Through the techniques of printmaking, scanning and drawing, I am trying to create a layered experience between dynamic and still, digital and physical, rational and emotional, portraying indescribable isolation and loneliness, as well as a void that feels peaceful. By the use of experimental imagery, the work explores how politics and the outer world affect the island to become a multiverse.
Artist Bio
Born in Taiwan, Chia Yun Wu is an artist and filmmaker based in New York City. She has received an MA in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art (UK) and an MFA in Motion Picture from the National Taiwan University of Arts (TW). Her degrees in film directing have made her lean toward the aesthetics of film narration and mise-en-scène. She has applied cinematic language to experiments with moving images, mixed media, and photography. That way she explores the spirits within the materials themselves that unveil the essence of things and the connection with human states. Her work has expanded from film to installation to conceptual art, representing how politics and the outer world affect her as a person. She also makes fiction films to narrate indescribable life stories, discussing freedom, the sense of belonging, and nothingness.
Wu’s works have been internationally exhibited at Art Basel (HK), Institute of Contemporary Arts (UK), Royal Scottish Academy (UK), York Art Gallery (UK), Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea (PT), BilbaoArte Fundazioa (ES), New Art Dealers Alliance (USA) and more. Recent screenings include the European Media Art Festival (DE), Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin (FR/DE), London Short Film Festival (UK), Festival Les Instants Vidéo (FR), Chicago Underground Film Festival (USA), Proyector Festival de Videoarte (ES), Asolo Art Film Festival (IT), Shanghai International Film Festival (CN) among others. Solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art (TW), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (TW), and Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TW). She has participated in artist residencies granted by Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CA), Bureau Français de Taipei (FR), and Lithuanian Photographers Association (LT). She was the recipient of the Director’s Fellowship from the International Center of Photography (USA).