Aura by mimicry
Artist:
Han Sheng CHEN(Taiwan)
Hsing Yu LIU(Taiwan)
Sebastian SUSILO(Indonesia)
Samak KOSEM(Thailand)
Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP(Thailand)
Han Sheng CHEN(Taiwan)
Hsing Yu LIU(Taiwan)
Sebastian SUSILO(Indonesia)
Samak KOSEM(Thailand)
Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP(Thailand)
The aura surrounding mimicry
Caius Plinius Secundus who completed Historia Naturalis in the first century AD mentions the origin of portraits. This reference is seen as the prototype of portraiture in the West. Before being written into words, similarities have appeared in mimicry. Mimicry is a phenomenon developed in the process of biological evolution. Regardless of the types of mimicry, three modes: model, mimic, and dupe are required. It can be established under the premise of the same domain. But in a specific time and space, creatures first interact with each other in "shape". Mimicry can be said to be the earliest method of deceiving the eye.
The exhibition "the Aura Surrounding Mimicry" attempts to extend the biological meaning of mimicry. The artists consider "gender awareness" and "image awareness" in their works, and explore the boundaries and social situations through their works. It also highlights how mimics in the same field can expand into new model species and discover more seemingly identical heterogeneities. The show highlights Taiwanese artists Han Sheng CHEN and Hsing Yu LIU, Indonesian Chinese-American artist Sebastian SUSILO, Thai artists Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP and Samak KOSEM.
Caius Plinius Secundus who completed Historia Naturalis in the first century AD mentions the origin of portraits. This reference is seen as the prototype of portraiture in the West. Before being written into words, similarities have appeared in mimicry. Mimicry is a phenomenon developed in the process of biological evolution. Regardless of the types of mimicry, three modes: model, mimic, and dupe are required. It can be established under the premise of the same domain. But in a specific time and space, creatures first interact with each other in "shape". Mimicry can be said to be the earliest method of deceiving the eye.
The exhibition "the Aura Surrounding Mimicry" attempts to extend the biological meaning of mimicry. The artists consider "gender awareness" and "image awareness" in their works, and explore the boundaries and social situations through their works. It also highlights how mimics in the same field can expand into new model species and discover more seemingly identical heterogeneities. The show highlights Taiwanese artists Han Sheng CHEN and Hsing Yu LIU, Indonesian Chinese-American artist Sebastian SUSILO, Thai artists Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP and Samak KOSEM.
Only For "The Death On Duty"|Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP|2018
When I was a Child|CHEN Han-Sheng|2020
Plants and rituals
"Use of plants" is the "element" shared by artists Han Sheng CHEN and Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP. The plants and craftsmanship used by the two artists formulate cultural context and social issues. So the work of the two people is not just about how to innovate the craft tradition. Rather, they address contemporary social events by reimagining alternative possibilities of craftsmanship. Han Sheng CHEN's work "When I was a Child" is related to the Ye Yongzhi incident, the death of a boy who had been bullied due to his gender temperament that incited reformation in gender education in early 21st-century Taiwan. Through meticulous kinetic installation, this work presents a more lifelike performance. Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP's "Only For ‘The Death On Duty’" directly responds to the youth who died of unknown reasons in the army under the rule of today’s Thai military. More than floral pictures, Naraphat’s photography continues to mourn for the dead. Both artists’ works are full of ritual and mourning, and at the same time implicitly criticize the institution of gender norms and state violence.
"Use of plants" is the "element" shared by artists Han Sheng CHEN and Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP. The plants and craftsmanship used by the two artists formulate cultural context and social issues. So the work of the two people is not just about how to innovate the craft tradition. Rather, they address contemporary social events by reimagining alternative possibilities of craftsmanship. Han Sheng CHEN's work "When I was a Child" is related to the Ye Yongzhi incident, the death of a boy who had been bullied due to his gender temperament that incited reformation in gender education in early 21st-century Taiwan. Through meticulous kinetic installation, this work presents a more lifelike performance. Naraphat SAKARTHORNSAP's "Only For ‘The Death On Duty’" directly responds to the youth who died of unknown reasons in the army under the rule of today’s Thai military. More than floral pictures, Naraphat’s photography continues to mourn for the dead. Both artists’ works are full of ritual and mourning, and at the same time implicitly criticize the institution of gender norms and state violence.
My Parents|Hsing Yu LIU|2010-2021
Group Photo as Co-existence
In On Photography, Susan Sontag writes that "(m)emorizing the achievements of individuals considered as members of families (as well as of other groups) is the earliest popular use of photography... Through photographs, each family constructs a portrait-chronicle of itself." If "becoming an image" is a way of being, queers seem to be a being that cannot be written into the family chronicles. It is a being that is definitely excluded from history. Therefore, artists use “mimicry” to be the “historian,” creating agency through photography. And family photos or wedding photos naturally become the beginning of this history-making. Based on this common ground of group photography, Hsing Yu LIU and Sebastian SUSILO employed different strategies of mimicry.
Sebastian SUSILO's work "The Hidden Pearl" uses photomontage to place himself in different family photos. Sebastian SUSILO’s family is a fusion of Jakarta, Hokkien, Hakka, and other hybrid bloodlines. The family has also experienced Dutch colonization, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Indonesian independence movement, and the anti-Chinese movement and the policy of assimilation, and the policy of returning overseas Chinese from China. Sebastian SUSILO reimagines himself as not only a participant but also a bystander of family history.
Also starting from the family, Hsing Yu LIU's work "My parents" is a wedding photo from a heterosexual couple. Heterosexual wedding photos tend to create a sense of happiness. However, through masquerade that exchanges gender roles, it highlights the absurdity that wedding photography has become a visual ritual in today's consumer market and strengthens the binary gender. Through this image-making, the artist expresses his desire for repressed sexual expressions and implies the experience of the class distinction that he feels in the art world. In the aesthetics of photography, the couple achieves co-existence, mimicry, and self-identification.
In On Photography, Susan Sontag writes that "(m)emorizing the achievements of individuals considered as members of families (as well as of other groups) is the earliest popular use of photography... Through photographs, each family constructs a portrait-chronicle of itself." If "becoming an image" is a way of being, queers seem to be a being that cannot be written into the family chronicles. It is a being that is definitely excluded from history. Therefore, artists use “mimicry” to be the “historian,” creating agency through photography. And family photos or wedding photos naturally become the beginning of this history-making. Based on this common ground of group photography, Hsing Yu LIU and Sebastian SUSILO employed different strategies of mimicry.
Sebastian SUSILO's work "The Hidden Pearl" uses photomontage to place himself in different family photos. Sebastian SUSILO’s family is a fusion of Jakarta, Hokkien, Hakka, and other hybrid bloodlines. The family has also experienced Dutch colonization, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Indonesian independence movement, and the anti-Chinese movement and the policy of assimilation, and the policy of returning overseas Chinese from China. Sebastian SUSILO reimagines himself as not only a participant but also a bystander of family history.
Also starting from the family, Hsing Yu LIU's work "My parents" is a wedding photo from a heterosexual couple. Heterosexual wedding photos tend to create a sense of happiness. However, through masquerade that exchanges gender roles, it highlights the absurdity that wedding photography has become a visual ritual in today's consumer market and strengthens the binary gender. Through this image-making, the artist expresses his desire for repressed sexual expressions and implies the experience of the class distinction that he feels in the art world. In the aesthetics of photography, the couple achieves co-existence, mimicry, and self-identification.
Archipelago's Family Portrait|Sebastian SUSILO|2019
NON POLITICS/ NON VIOLENCE
Samak KOSEM is an anthropologist, and his photographs often highlight the differences between individuals in groups from the perspective of cultural anthropology and express the local context and social atmosphere. "The Prayer Book" is black and white photography, with queer Muslims in southern Thailand as the subject. In the works, whether for worship, or ordinary daily portrait side shots, the face was sprayed with red paint and written in Jawi script about the definition of homosexuality in Islam. Red is associated with vigilance. In Islam, prayer is to prevent evil. In the method of labeling and de-labeling, expressing Muslim queer self-identity, art is a perceptual expression, and the display of works becomes a public existence. In the themes of politics and violence, "existence" is used to express the "coexistence" of politics and violence, and a stand is expressed through this method. Art is the most appropriate way to highlight the relationship between gender politics and violence. No matter what kind of mimicry it is, it implies the individual's desire for survival. And the artist can always be an agent between the message of the media and the audience, prompting people to think otherwise.
Samak KOSEM is an anthropologist, and his photographs often highlight the differences between individuals in groups from the perspective of cultural anthropology and express the local context and social atmosphere. "The Prayer Book" is black and white photography, with queer Muslims in southern Thailand as the subject. In the works, whether for worship, or ordinary daily portrait side shots, the face was sprayed with red paint and written in Jawi script about the definition of homosexuality in Islam. Red is associated with vigilance. In Islam, prayer is to prevent evil. In the method of labeling and de-labeling, expressing Muslim queer self-identity, art is a perceptual expression, and the display of works becomes a public existence. In the themes of politics and violence, "existence" is used to express the "coexistence" of politics and violence, and a stand is expressed through this method. Art is the most appropriate way to highlight the relationship between gender politics and violence. No matter what kind of mimicry it is, it implies the individual's desire for survival. And the artist can always be an agent between the message of the media and the audience, prompting people to think otherwise.
Prayer Book|Samak Kosem|2018|29.7 x 42.0 cm Digital C-print, spray paint