Honey?Salome?As Bodies!
Artist:Yeon Jeong(Korea), Anchi LIN(Taiwan)
“Decapitate if not pure” is a gimmick slogan commonly used by Taiwanese honey sellers. In between true and false, the market value of the honey somehow lies upon capital exchange in the name of exchange life. How does the honey produced through fermentation be extended and transformed into a cross-cultural metaphorical piece? Another motif related to “Decapitation” comes from the famous Salome. Different versions of Salome, through the separation of head and body, each reflects the exchange of desire in different eras. Nowadays, with the rise of different gender consciousness and Salome being used as a metaphor for body behavior, is it going to bring up a different gazing point and/or reappearance?
This online exhibition themed “The Calling of the Present World of decapitate if not pure?” attempts to use honey as the warp and the body as the weft to pin point the works of Taiwanese artist Anchi Lin and Korean artist Yeon Jeong. The relevance between material basis and the body as the creative medium, how queer consciousness becomes a fable of nectar to translate the body but also being translated by the body. In the process of material transformation in which bees collect nectar and transform flowers into honey, bees complete their own life circle, continue the reproduction of flowers, and fulfill the cultivation of farmers. The material basis of honey also exchanges different symbols and metaphors between human consumption and medicinal use. Performance artists, like bees, are brewing “honey” after traveling through flowers of different cultural contexts; In the face of different hegemonic powers, they also tried to assault with stings; When artists consume their own self-brewed honey, it then becomes the epitome of human beings in this world, playing the function of suture and healing between cultural shock and self-identity.
Anchi Lin is a creator with both Atayal and Han ancestry and identifies as queer. Studied in Canada for long, she deeply felt the loss of her maternal cultural connection. In this exhibition, two works by Anchi Lin “The Mask (The Tattoo on Faces)” and “Perhaps She comes from/to__Alang” are featured, which are created in the process of exploring her own linage. Yeon Jeong, a South Korean performance artist, has an academic background in Film Studies and obtained a master's degree in film in the United States. In Yeon Jeong's performances, there are a lot of everyday experiments and social criticism. Her two behavioral videos, “Honey propolis flower art pack”and “A break in Philippines field”, are on display to inquire into social issues such as women and consumption.
Transforming the myths and oral history of the indigenous people
The work “The Mask (The Tattoo on Faces)” by Anchi Lin is a mined play. In the video, the artist sticks transparent packaging tape on her face and seal her mouth . With text as a narration to describe the Atayal women's understanding and views on facial tattoos. Along with the text narrative, Anchi Lin draws tattoo totems on her face with a marker pen. The face tattoo symbolizes honor and family for Atayal people. However, the marks painted on the transparent tape will not really remain on the face of Anchi Lin, just as the story describes that at the end of the story, as the population moved out for work gradually, the Atayal people no longer have their face tattooed.
“Perhaps She comes from/to__Alang” by Anchi Lin is a dual-screen video play. The content is extracted from the oral history of Atayal Cinsbu community in Hsinchu County which mentions the story of women's infertility caused by poisonous brass pots sent by Japanese colonizers, and the Atayal myth of the all women tribe “Temahahoi”. One of the scenes shows Anchi Lin’s individual body performance, with her naked body lying on her side, alongside a steaming brass pot, a jar of honey and several stones. During the process, the brass pot is continuously boiled by the cassette furnace and the smoke billows. Lin slowly scoops out the honey with a wooden spoon, drips it on her lower body, and then wipes it off with stones. Another scene shows Anchi Lin using software Unity to build a virtual forest. The construction of maple forest form comes from the scenery of Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area. The ground of maple forest and the texture of mountain scenery render the color of red and white stripes. There are many different billboards in the forest that contains old photos of the tribe during Japanese colonial period, as well as an advertisement that says “Bee-Replicating Project”, and a missing person notice about Grandma “Chen Yue (Ciwas)”. At the end of this scene, there will be a brass pot and a big rock with a traditional Atayal animal bone necklace being placed on it. The narration with the above scene describes the female tribe with a unique life style, including only needing to inhale steam to survive, being able to talk to bees, and giving birth to the next generation by sitting on a rock to be conceived, the story finally ends with infertility for unknown reasons.
In the video, the relationship between Aowanda forest and the land of the ancestors is concatenated, as well as the tradition of weaving in the tribe, which used to be the responsibility of women but not much connected with the growing up experience of Anchi Lin. Not until Lin tried to trace back her own Atayal cultural lineage had she face the loss of her grandmother Chen Yue (Ciwas). Such contemporary life situation suggests the fracture and the connection between cultural heritage and life experiences. The body behavior in the dual-screen images and the juxtaposition of scenes and stories constructed with Unity may be regarded as the strategies and methods for tracing the “beyond reach” cultural representation of the subject.
Honey and sting of bees
“Honey propolis flower art pack” by Yeon Jeong is performed in front of an abandoned house courtyard full of weeds. A piece of white plastic cloth is placed on the open space, the work opens with a scene of floor sweeping, followed by Yeon Jeong sat on the white plastic cloth and shredded a piece of exhibition advertising flyer into a container full of flower petals. She then sprinkled the pieces of paper and petals on her face. Next, she picked up the honey on the side, squeezed and poured it on her body and daubs it repeatedly. Finally, she lay on the white plastic cloth, rolled it up and wrapped herself. According to artist Yeon Jeong, honey, propolis and flowers are common elements in women's skin care products. These products are mass-produced through art packaging and eventually turned into rubbish. She is trying to bring up the issue about women’s desires and over consumption.
Yeon Jeong's “a break in Philippines field” is a work about a series of persecution of farmers after the Philippine government reduced restrictions on rice imports. In this work, Yeon Jeong wore a green cami long one-piece dress with the skirt torn. Sitting in the gazebo resting in the rice field, she applied lipstick repeatedly even exceeding the contours of her lips, then she continued to caress and kiss the gazebo including the pillars and the ground. Afterwards she knelt and bowed around, with banknotes sticking to the soles of her bare feet. Then she took out a piece of green paper and crumpled it, wrapped it around her head and fixed it with a plastic chain. Later on she picked up lipstick again and smeared it on the surface of the paper. Then she took off the paper and fixed it in the middle of the gazebo with the plastic chain. Then she held a handful of rice grains in both hands and lay face down on the floor of the gazebo with Knee Plank position, supporting her weight only on her elbows and knees. At the same time, she stretched out her tongue and stayed with this position until her body trembled. She then took out a piece of white paper to retrieve the rice grains and toppled them from the top of her head. Then she took the paper to the river next to the rice field and let it carried away by the current. Finally, she removed the banknotes from her feet and threw them into the river. With the reducing of rice import restrictions, farmers have quarreled with the government and even been killed. In order to survive, women in rural areas engaged in sex trade in farmhouse huts, which is called “rest” by contemporary people. Through the performance, Yeon Jeong discussed how women are indirectly persecuted because of improper policies.
From matter to event
In the performances of Anchi Lin and Yeon Jeong, both started from the role of women and transformed into queer view of the“aphasia voice” . Anchi Lin, who has Atayal blood, is thinking about the loss of her own culture as a sinicized indigenous people and lesbian. The root cause she is looking for is exactly the situation she is facing in this era. On the other hand, deeply awared of South Korea's male hegemony, Yeon Jeong went to the United States to study film studies and eventually used behavioral performance as a method to continue paying attention to the situation of the disadvantaged in Korean culture and even in global scope.
The purity identification of honey comes from the physical characteristics and perception of color, density, flow rate, foam and taste. On the same material basis, how do the artists of the online exhibition show the representation of queer consciousness and the construction of contemporary viewpoints in the mediated and materialized bodies? Among them, the use of matter has also been eventualized in the process and became a new gazing point. The complexity of current events can only become the subject for further questioning, tolerance and understanding through the re-eventualization of the body
This online exhibition themed “The Calling of the Present World of decapitate if not pure?” attempts to use honey as the warp and the body as the weft to pin point the works of Taiwanese artist Anchi Lin and Korean artist Yeon Jeong. The relevance between material basis and the body as the creative medium, how queer consciousness becomes a fable of nectar to translate the body but also being translated by the body. In the process of material transformation in which bees collect nectar and transform flowers into honey, bees complete their own life circle, continue the reproduction of flowers, and fulfill the cultivation of farmers. The material basis of honey also exchanges different symbols and metaphors between human consumption and medicinal use. Performance artists, like bees, are brewing “honey” after traveling through flowers of different cultural contexts; In the face of different hegemonic powers, they also tried to assault with stings; When artists consume their own self-brewed honey, it then becomes the epitome of human beings in this world, playing the function of suture and healing between cultural shock and self-identity.
Anchi Lin is a creator with both Atayal and Han ancestry and identifies as queer. Studied in Canada for long, she deeply felt the loss of her maternal cultural connection. In this exhibition, two works by Anchi Lin “The Mask (The Tattoo on Faces)” and “Perhaps She comes from/to__Alang” are featured, which are created in the process of exploring her own linage. Yeon Jeong, a South Korean performance artist, has an academic background in Film Studies and obtained a master's degree in film in the United States. In Yeon Jeong's performances, there are a lot of everyday experiments and social criticism. Her two behavioral videos, “Honey propolis flower art pack”and “A break in Philippines field”, are on display to inquire into social issues such as women and consumption.
Transforming the myths and oral history of the indigenous people
The work “The Mask (The Tattoo on Faces)” by Anchi Lin is a mined play. In the video, the artist sticks transparent packaging tape on her face and seal her mouth . With text as a narration to describe the Atayal women's understanding and views on facial tattoos. Along with the text narrative, Anchi Lin draws tattoo totems on her face with a marker pen. The face tattoo symbolizes honor and family for Atayal people. However, the marks painted on the transparent tape will not really remain on the face of Anchi Lin, just as the story describes that at the end of the story, as the population moved out for work gradually, the Atayal people no longer have their face tattooed.
“Perhaps She comes from/to__Alang” by Anchi Lin is a dual-screen video play. The content is extracted from the oral history of Atayal Cinsbu community in Hsinchu County which mentions the story of women's infertility caused by poisonous brass pots sent by Japanese colonizers, and the Atayal myth of the all women tribe “Temahahoi”. One of the scenes shows Anchi Lin’s individual body performance, with her naked body lying on her side, alongside a steaming brass pot, a jar of honey and several stones. During the process, the brass pot is continuously boiled by the cassette furnace and the smoke billows. Lin slowly scoops out the honey with a wooden spoon, drips it on her lower body, and then wipes it off with stones. Another scene shows Anchi Lin using software Unity to build a virtual forest. The construction of maple forest form comes from the scenery of Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area. The ground of maple forest and the texture of mountain scenery render the color of red and white stripes. There are many different billboards in the forest that contains old photos of the tribe during Japanese colonial period, as well as an advertisement that says “Bee-Replicating Project”, and a missing person notice about Grandma “Chen Yue (Ciwas)”. At the end of this scene, there will be a brass pot and a big rock with a traditional Atayal animal bone necklace being placed on it. The narration with the above scene describes the female tribe with a unique life style, including only needing to inhale steam to survive, being able to talk to bees, and giving birth to the next generation by sitting on a rock to be conceived, the story finally ends with infertility for unknown reasons.
In the video, the relationship between Aowanda forest and the land of the ancestors is concatenated, as well as the tradition of weaving in the tribe, which used to be the responsibility of women but not much connected with the growing up experience of Anchi Lin. Not until Lin tried to trace back her own Atayal cultural lineage had she face the loss of her grandmother Chen Yue (Ciwas). Such contemporary life situation suggests the fracture and the connection between cultural heritage and life experiences. The body behavior in the dual-screen images and the juxtaposition of scenes and stories constructed with Unity may be regarded as the strategies and methods for tracing the “beyond reach” cultural representation of the subject.
Honey and sting of bees
“Honey propolis flower art pack” by Yeon Jeong is performed in front of an abandoned house courtyard full of weeds. A piece of white plastic cloth is placed on the open space, the work opens with a scene of floor sweeping, followed by Yeon Jeong sat on the white plastic cloth and shredded a piece of exhibition advertising flyer into a container full of flower petals. She then sprinkled the pieces of paper and petals on her face. Next, she picked up the honey on the side, squeezed and poured it on her body and daubs it repeatedly. Finally, she lay on the white plastic cloth, rolled it up and wrapped herself. According to artist Yeon Jeong, honey, propolis and flowers are common elements in women's skin care products. These products are mass-produced through art packaging and eventually turned into rubbish. She is trying to bring up the issue about women’s desires and over consumption.
Yeon Jeong's “a break in Philippines field” is a work about a series of persecution of farmers after the Philippine government reduced restrictions on rice imports. In this work, Yeon Jeong wore a green cami long one-piece dress with the skirt torn. Sitting in the gazebo resting in the rice field, she applied lipstick repeatedly even exceeding the contours of her lips, then she continued to caress and kiss the gazebo including the pillars and the ground. Afterwards she knelt and bowed around, with banknotes sticking to the soles of her bare feet. Then she took out a piece of green paper and crumpled it, wrapped it around her head and fixed it with a plastic chain. Later on she picked up lipstick again and smeared it on the surface of the paper. Then she took off the paper and fixed it in the middle of the gazebo with the plastic chain. Then she held a handful of rice grains in both hands and lay face down on the floor of the gazebo with Knee Plank position, supporting her weight only on her elbows and knees. At the same time, she stretched out her tongue and stayed with this position until her body trembled. She then took out a piece of white paper to retrieve the rice grains and toppled them from the top of her head. Then she took the paper to the river next to the rice field and let it carried away by the current. Finally, she removed the banknotes from her feet and threw them into the river. With the reducing of rice import restrictions, farmers have quarreled with the government and even been killed. In order to survive, women in rural areas engaged in sex trade in farmhouse huts, which is called “rest” by contemporary people. Through the performance, Yeon Jeong discussed how women are indirectly persecuted because of improper policies.
From matter to event
In the performances of Anchi Lin and Yeon Jeong, both started from the role of women and transformed into queer view of the“aphasia voice” . Anchi Lin, who has Atayal blood, is thinking about the loss of her own culture as a sinicized indigenous people and lesbian. The root cause she is looking for is exactly the situation she is facing in this era. On the other hand, deeply awared of South Korea's male hegemony, Yeon Jeong went to the United States to study film studies and eventually used behavioral performance as a method to continue paying attention to the situation of the disadvantaged in Korean culture and even in global scope.
The purity identification of honey comes from the physical characteristics and perception of color, density, flow rate, foam and taste. On the same material basis, how do the artists of the online exhibition show the representation of queer consciousness and the construction of contemporary viewpoints in the mediated and materialized bodies? Among them, the use of matter has also been eventualized in the process and became a new gazing point. The complexity of current events can only become the subject for further questioning, tolerance and understanding through the re-eventualization of the body
A break in Philippines Ricefield
Artist:Yeon Jeong
In 2019, the government's unreasonable measures were taken against rice, a major export item in the Philippines, and farmers rose up. Farmers who came out of rice paddies with guns against government policies were often killed by government forces, which caused public outrage across the country. But even at such sites, women had to make ends meet by trading sex in farmhouse huts. This was called "rest" by male farmers. The performance is a place-specific performance in the Plains, a common 'rest time' prostitution site in Filipino farms, which is always mentioned secondary to men's political and economic megadiscourse, and is about the situation of women being victimized.
Artist:Yeon Jeong
In 2019, the government's unreasonable measures were taken against rice, a major export item in the Philippines, and farmers rose up. Farmers who came out of rice paddies with guns against government policies were often killed by government forces, which caused public outrage across the country. But even at such sites, women had to make ends meet by trading sex in farmhouse huts. This was called "rest" by male farmers. The performance is a place-specific performance in the Plains, a common 'rest time' prostitution site in Filipino farms, which is always mentioned secondary to men's political and economic megadiscourse, and is about the situation of women being victimized.
Honey propolis flower art pack
Artist:Yeon Jeong
Combining women's beauty practices, performances, and ideas about art, the performance basically asks about femininity, women's sexuality, and the boundaries of everyday and art, citing the mess in traditional performing arts, excess of body and spirit. The propolis of honey and the nutritional ingredients of art used in beauty packs melt into this one tempting pile of garbage, and show that the great discourse of art is only a past that disappears into time.
Artist:Yeon Jeong
Combining women's beauty practices, performances, and ideas about art, the performance basically asks about femininity, women's sexuality, and the boundaries of everyday and art, citing the mess in traditional performing arts, excess of body and spirit. The propolis of honey and the nutritional ingredients of art used in beauty packs melt into this one tempting pile of garbage, and show that the great discourse of art is only a past that disappears into time.
Perhaps She comes from/to__Alang
Artist:Anchi LIN
‘Perhaps, she comes from/to ____ Alang’, this art project is derived from three different narratives combined to re-examine my identity, gender, oral narrative, and displacement from land lost. The inspiration draws from the oral narrative describing the tribe of Temahahoi a place where only women live. Then, I fused this narrative with a story I heard from elders in qalang Cinsbu (Atayal Cinsbu community) in Hsinchu Taiwan regarding brass pots given to the tribe by the colonizers of that time; consequently, many indigenous people became infertile in the region. Continuing and combining these two oral stories above, I reflected on these and on my own body in an attempt to discuss identity (ethnicity and gender), the feeling of the displaced (resulting from forced replacement). In this work, I created a virtual space, in the space of the Internet, as a response to my deep desire to have a specific qalang landmark and my own ‘sense of place’, my own ‘cultural landscape’. I project my desire to connect to my ancestral land pin towards the Internet address https://raxal-mu.glitch.me (raxal mu – meaning my land). This Internet space expands as my cultural knowledge expands.
Artist:Anchi LIN
‘Perhaps, she comes from/to ____ Alang’, this art project is derived from three different narratives combined to re-examine my identity, gender, oral narrative, and displacement from land lost. The inspiration draws from the oral narrative describing the tribe of Temahahoi a place where only women live. Then, I fused this narrative with a story I heard from elders in qalang Cinsbu (Atayal Cinsbu community) in Hsinchu Taiwan regarding brass pots given to the tribe by the colonizers of that time; consequently, many indigenous people became infertile in the region. Continuing and combining these two oral stories above, I reflected on these and on my own body in an attempt to discuss identity (ethnicity and gender), the feeling of the displaced (resulting from forced replacement). In this work, I created a virtual space, in the space of the Internet, as a response to my deep desire to have a specific qalang landmark and my own ‘sense of place’, my own ‘cultural landscape’. I project my desire to connect to my ancestral land pin towards the Internet address https://raxal-mu.glitch.me (raxal mu – meaning my land). This Internet space expands as my cultural knowledge expands.
The Mask (The Tattoo on Faces)
Artist:Anchi LIN
This video performance project appears to identify with Atayal females by sticking transparent tape on her face and painting on common patterns of facial tattoo worn by females in a traditional Atayal culture. However the tape also seals the artist's mouth, a symbol of muffled voice in the reality she experiences. The play on two conflicting facts powerfully conveys the detachment and alienation the artists feels for her own heritage.
Artist:Anchi LIN
This video performance project appears to identify with Atayal females by sticking transparent tape on her face and painting on common patterns of facial tattoo worn by females in a traditional Atayal culture. However the tape also seals the artist's mouth, a symbol of muffled voice in the reality she experiences. The play on two conflicting facts powerfully conveys the detachment and alienation the artists feels for her own heritage.