Shore of the Labyrinth, the Sky at Dawn (2024)




Plastic baskets, acrylic on UV print on 6mm MDF and plastic bags, commodities, lacquered wood panel, laser cut 3.2mm MDF, 3D printed figures, dumb phones. Variable dimensions.
The inhabitants of Zomia were once considered runaways, fugitives or maroons due to the constant invasion of their utopian homeland by representatives of supermodernity. Their frequent migrations reflect this history. Shanshui (literally mountain and water or landscape) paintings, with their distinctive style and visual aesthetics, were often treated as commodities in this process. Local people incorporated them into their domestic spaces, along with the infiltration of ideology and the exploitation of natural resources. In the face of political power and production, the hermits who once hid in Shanshui have nowhere to run. This reflection considers the anonymity and exemption from state regulation that individuals maintained in the political void of past zomia. It also explores how contemporary people are inspired to seek strategies of liberation through the landscape. I have traced the phenomenon of homogenisation that underlies contemporary landscape painting, namely state infiltration of national sovereignty and ideological indoctrination.


꧁Mu Chuan꧂


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Muchuan Chen (b. 2001) is a London-based Chinese research artist currently completing her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. Chen explores the convergence of landscape painting and ideological influence in the Zomia region. Rooted in the evocative imagery of the Ban Gioc-Detian Falls, these paintings transcend mere decoration to address themes of nationalist pride and territorial sovereignty, while subtly critiquing exploitation and surveillance. Inspired by James C. Scott’s “The Art of Not Being Governed”, Chen sees Zomia as a haven of autonomy that escapes state control. Her practice reflects the changes of recent decades along the Sino-Vietnamese border, where political and commercial encroachments have reshaped the landscape of her childhood.

Chen also treats neon commodities as metaphors of marginalisation to acknowledge the struggles of disenfranchised groups. Emblematic of mass production and low value, these objects have been rendered invisible by the march of urbanisation and minimalism. Neon colours that should attract attention instead remain unseen, a phenomenon that resonates with Zomia’s historical evasion of authority. Her installations are a synthesis of two worlds. By juxtaposing neon commodities with landscape paintings, she traces the anonymity of Zomia’s inhabitants in the context of the global spectacle of modernity. In short, Chen seeks to uncover strategies of liberation and resistance embedded in visual and material culture.