Perhaps, She Comes From/To ____ Alang
The Physics Room, Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. Jun - Jul 2022 (featured Perhaps, She Comes From/To ____ Alang)
“In this work, the lefthand projection shows Lin lying on the floor in a position similar to the Atayal burial posture, facing west. A brass pot on a stove alongside her steams as it heats. There is a jar of honey, which she repeatedly drips over her body, and wipes away with stones. In the second video, a conversation is held between two hunters who have encountered Temahahoi. The work moves through a virtual 3D landscape inspired by the Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County, central Taiwan. This terrain was created from a 3D scan of a small textile woven by Lin in red and black, the significant colours of the Atayal people. Billboards throughout the forest address issues of local concern, from mining, to the loss of bees and the climate crisis. ... Perhaps She Comes From/To____Alang is voiced over in the Atayal Squliq dialect, which Lin has been learning over the last two years. The artist writes, “By re-creating a narrative for…from three different stories—including the story of Temahahoi, the story of infertility triggered by the use of a brass pot, and the presence of my queer body—I re-examine issues of displacement, identity, and gender.” This work proposes an evolving space, in which the vitality of queer bodies, indigenous narratives and the environment sit in powerful and world-transforming relationship.” The Physics Room, 2022
Photography by Amy Weng and Julia Lin Kingham, 2022