01 Transparent Moment
Moving image. Colour. 4'32". 52*93 cm LCD TV.
02 Towards Lightness and Clarity
Video installation. Transparent plastic beads, crystal stretch lines, iron wires, glass pane, wine glasses, water beads. 125*238 cm.
This moving image work attempts to touch upon the dogmatic differences and rules that remain between consumer culture and the inherent image of women. It gives prominence to the narrative of the transparent materials and liberates the symbolism of the crystal coffins from their fixed contexts or functions. The video begins with the act of digging for raw crystals, alternates with chemical formulae for other transparent materials, and continues with product images of Swarovski crystals and crystal coffins. It recreates Julia Kristeva's discourse on women's time by appropriating movement clips from existing films and animations of women entering and exiting coffins. In this work, the crystal coffin, which suspends time, is linked to a cyclical and looping female time in which the marginalised woman uses the absorptive power of the crystal coffin and the environment of claustration to heal hysteria, escape fertility and protect herself. The liquid sealed in the glass uterus makes a soft water sound after constant knocking, asking for the possibility to resist and reverse the status quo.
Towards Lightness and Clarity (2022)
This installation features an arrangement of woven beads that infer and deduce the connotation of the interior of the crystal coffins under the sequence of Women's Time. Transparent beads, formed into strings and then made into a hammock, hang in the centre of the exhibition hall, inviting attention and engagement. It is positioned at a height equivalent to half of the audience's body, as if they could roll sideways into the hammock, mimicking the style of a common outdoor hammock. A screen is laid flat in a space constructed of glass panels supported by glasses at four corners, showing moving images directly below the vertical of the installation. Elastic and transparent water beads are scattered throughout. Within this form, the enclosed exhibition space can be thought of as the inside of a coffin and the hammock as a component to support the body, a pillow or a sheet. Such an attitude presupposes an experience after entering a coffin: you won't always sleep soundly, and your posture may change: spreading out, rolling over, sleeping on your stomach or back instead of constantly facing the opening, it becomes possible to stay awake. Transparent materials allow you to ask bold and challenging questions through two-way communication between internal and external lines of sight. The height of the hammock allows you to stop taking a lower position and being trapped in observation, but to start actively observing, breaking the traditional easy viewing rule of placement.
Installation view of Towards Lightness and Clarity (2022), 125*238 cm.
Installation view of Transparent Moment (2021), 52*93 cm LCD TV.
Video screenshot from Transparent Moment (2021), 4'32''.