The Mask Series II
紋面 系列二

Performance: 24th Nippon International Performance Art Festival, Theater Karakuri Studio, Osaka, Japan. March 16th, 2019

Exhibited: Silent Carnival. Taoyuan City Indigenous Culture Centre. Taoyuan, Taiwan, 2021

• Letter paper, black ink, 25 x 17.4cm

我使用書寫信紙，一張一張地擺放在地板上，讓他們成為一直線，再來使用墨筆從信紙的最上方一直畫到最底端，畫完之後，我便站起來，然後用我的雙腳腳把地板上的直線型信紙一張一張地往外踢開，有規律的直線型信紙們瞬間被我的腳弄斷，並隨機地分散地面四處，我重新在每張紙上用墨筆描繪先前所留下的墨水線條，但這次，我重新描繪紙上的墨筆線條直接往地板外圍畫出，我開始在地板上繪畫泰雅女性的局部紋面圖像，每張紙延伸出紋面的某個部份，每畫完一個部分，我的頭就會去迎接在地板上還是濕濕的墨印，因此墨水就模糊地印上了我的臉，最後，我在地板上散碎的信紙上走一回，再次描繪一次紙上先前所畫過的墨水線條，這次墨筆描繪不是往外的地板畫去，而是直接畫上我腳下明顯的血管上，信紙和墨筆是主流文化紀錄歷史的開始，而作品整體過程敘述自己對於沒有文字的原住民母體文化的疏離與期盼。

This live performance and photography series is a continuation of The Mask (Tattoo on Faces). Ciwas placed the writing papers one by one on the floor to form a straight line, then used the ink pen to draw a line from the top to the bottom repeating this action. In Ciwas’s words: My feet kicked and separated each paper, the previous straight line immediately became unorderly. I used the ink pen to draw a line on the paper again, but this time the line went outside of the paper to the floor, then I drew a certain section of Atayal women's face tattoo, I put my forehead instantly to the drawing in order to have the ink imprinted on my forehead. I went to a different paper and continued to compose a different part of the face tattoo. Eventually, I have a seemingly broken Atayal face tattoo on my face. Following this, I stepped around between papers, then I drew a line once again on the paper. Next, the ink went to the blood vessels on my limbs. Subsequently, I traced my vessels, then I stood up with traced legs, walked between papers again, collected them in my hands, placed them into a line again. The writing paper and ink pen are the recording tools for the colonisers, while the Indigenous Taiwanese have oral history passed down across generations.