Liminal Space/Crossings
臨界地/渡
DAILY, SUNDOWN TO MIDNIGHT丨每天, 日落到午夜
LOCATION: 41 ROSS ALLEY, SAN FRANCISCO CHINATOWN 丨地點: 舊金山華埠 舊呂宋巷
ARTIST: SUMMER MEI LING LEE丨藝術家: 李美玲
Artist Statement
Liminal Space/Crossings, a public art installation in Ross Alley, places an image of an ocean glistening in the heart of Chinatown where these people live. It is the expanse of water where immigrants from China crossed into the profound uncertainty of life in the US. The ocean is in some way symbolic of a liminal space for those of us immigrants and descendants of immigrants who live in the tidal waters of identity and culture. A fluid space between land masses, where one can reckon with being at home in the state of unhousedness.
We are transfigured in ineffable ways at the moment we cross over the ocean from China, when we chance on an arduous decision to do something different. Whether it was my ancestor's immigration over a hundred years ago or the residents of Chinatown who arrived here last year, physically traversing the vast Pacific Ocean is not a one-time event but rather the beginning of many unfolding processes -- it unfurls a deeply spiritual and emotional change that lasts for generations to come.
臨界地/渡是位於舊呂宋巷的一件公共藝術裝置作品, 閃爍的海面影像流動在舊金山華埠人們生活的中心地帶。海水延伸的流域是中國移民橫渡到美國經歷的深刻而又前途未卜的生活。海洋在某種程度上是一個閾值空間，象征著移民及其後代生活于身份與文化潮汐之中。在一個大陸板塊之间流動的空間里, 人們在離家的情境下思考著在家的生活。
當我们從中國跨越大洋的那一刻, 偶然地做出了一個嘗試改變的艱難決定后, 我们便以一種難以言喻的方式得到了升華。不管是這個決定是我的祖先一百多年前的移民或是去年剛來到中國城的居民, 身體上穿越浩瀚的太平洋並不是一次性的活動, 而是許多个展開這一過程的起點 -- 它展現了一個對幾代人具有深遠意義的精神與情感上的轉變。
"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea." - E.E. Cummings.
“無論我們失去了什麼 (比如一個你或一個我)
我們總能在海中找到自己。”-康明思
The project is presented by Chinese Culture Culture of San Francisco in partnership with the Chinatown Community Development Center. Supported by California Arts Council, San Francisco Community Challenge Grants Program, the National Endowment for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Grants for the Arts.
此項目由舊金山中華文化中心聯合華協中心術基金會和舊呈現。獲得加州藝術委員會, San Francisco Community Challenge Grants Program, 國家藝術基金會, 三藩市藝術委員會, 安迪‧沃荷視覺藝術基金會和舊金山藝術局的支持。