Introduction
From femme sensibilities to a queer state of mind, “WOMEN我們: From Her to Here” brings together artistic works that embody feelings and experiences rooted in the non-binary—an awareness, a liminal space, and a source of power to be and be seen.
Between and beyond this exhibition are local and universal expressions of queer and feminist liberation, cultivation, and imaginations. Centered on Asian diasporic perspectives, the exhibition features video and film works, mixed media installation, photography, paintings and publications by artists of diverse gender & sexual identities across the Bay Area, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and more.
This is CCC’s third iteration of WOMEN我們 (a Mandarin homophone meaning both ‘women’ and ‘we’), an ongoing series which explore feminism, gender diversity, and sexual equality. For this iteration, “We” represents agency and belonging, affirming our need to sustain safe physical and psychological spaces in as a way to nourish queer and feminist creativity and cultural growth.
從女性情感到酷兒精神, 《WOMEN我們: From Her to Here》集結展示的藝術創作根植於非二元性別對立的經驗之中: 一種意識、一個閾限空間和一股形成或被見證的力量之源。
在展覽之中以及之外是對酷兒及女性自由、培養和想像力於當地的或普遍性的表達。展覽關注亞裔離散視角, 展出錄像及電影作品、混合媒介裝置、攝影、繪畫和出版物，它們來自灣區、台灣、香港、中國內陸等地的多元性別及性認同的藝術家的創作。
這是中華文化中心《WOMEN我們》 (中文同音字包含兩重含義:“女性”或“我們”)的第三屆系列群展，這一持續的系列旨在探討女性主義、性別多樣化和性別平等。此次系列群展中，“我們”代表主體性與歸屬感, 公開肯定我們對持久安全的實體與心理空間的迫切需求, 以此滋養酷兒與女性主義創造力和文化的成長。
Visiting
WOMEN我們: From Her to Here is on view February 19 – August 28, 2021. It can be viewed online at www.cccsf.us/women-from-her-to-here
In person visits to the gallery will begin in spring 2021 when permitted under current City and State stay-at-home orders. Visits will be by appointment to ensure the public’s safety. Guests can make a free appointment through the website at www.cccsf.us when the gallery reopens. City and State guidelines will be observed. Visitors will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
Gallery hours are Tuesdays – Saturdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Chinese Culture Center, 750 Kearny St., 3rd Floor. Admission to the gallery is free. For more information and updates on reopening, the public should visit www.cccsf.us or call 415-986-1822.
About CCC
Chinese Culture Center (CCC), under the aegis of the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco, is a non-profit organization established in 1965. CCC elevates underserved communities and gives voice to equality through education and contemporary art. Rooted in San Francisco’s Chinatown, CCC is a loud and creative voice to uplift social and economical transformation. We provide a safe environment for artists who champion activism, resiliency, and healthy communities. In doing so, we shift dominant narratives, empower change, and reimagine our futures.
《WOMEN我們: From Her to Here》展期自2021年2月19日至8月28日。請訪問www.cccsf.us, 查詢展覽信息。
實體畫廊空間參觀將根據舊金山市許可及加州居家令規定於2021年春季開放。展覽實行預約參觀以確保公眾安全。觀眾可在畫廊重新開放後, 通過網站 www.cccsf.us, 進行免費預約。具體安排將遵循舊金山市及加州政府部門的防疫指導。訪客將被要求佩戴口罩及保持安全社交距離。
畫廊開放時間: 週二 – 週六 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. , 中華文化中心, 750 Kearny St., 3rd Floor。免費開放。更多資訊及開放更新訊息, 請訪問網站www.cccsf.us 或致電 415-986-1822。
中華文化中心 (CCC) 隸屬舊金山中華文化基金會 (Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco), 是於1965年成立的非營利性機構。中華文化中心致力於提升未得到充分支持的社區地位，並通過教育與當代藝術為平等發聲。 根植於舊金山華埠，中華文化中心以響亮且具有創造力的發聲鼓舞社會性和經濟層面的變革。我們為倡導積極性，韌性和健康社區的藝術家提供安全的環境。在此過程中，我們轉變主流敘事，賦予變革以權力，並重新構想我們共同的未來。
Erotic Wallpaper (2019-2020)
Yao Hong 姚紅
Mixed-media installation with wallpaper, tiles
I created Erotic Wallpaper in 2019. In the current era of exploding speed and information flow, this work challenges the medium of and the viewing of drawing. The piece uses contrasting and oppositional patterns to create unique visual effects and patterns responding to the speed of contemporary information age and its underlying desires. The materials used in the installation, printed wallpaper from drawing and commonplace white tiles, reveals the hidden anxiety and pain of Taiwan’s citizens. The chaotic and conflicting patterns not only responds the Taiwan’s collective anxiety, but also my gender anxieties.
In my creative process, I carry almost no emotion when I draw by hand. I try to resolve a great, aching anxiety in my life through an impersonal approach. By standing clear of myself, I hope to see myself more clearly. The resulting work becomes a neurotic visual texture that defies common sense. I believe this drawing texture adds new sense and sensibility to the aesthetic reservoir of the history of art.
這次展覽的作品是我在2019年期間創作的作品『情慾圖紙』，這件作品於現在速度與訊息流量爆炸的時代中，重新挑戰了繪畫的媒介與觀看，並用極度矛盾的圖騰造成視覺上的幻聽效果回應當代訊息社會的速度．並同時賦予當代繪畫一種新的詮釋、和畫法；且試圖和過去的藝術史對話。同時我使用的材料透露出了台灣人民底層的焦慮和疼痛，而這龐雜混亂的矛盾圖騰不僅回應了這時代的壓迫，也隱微的參透了我的個人身份-性別。台灣焦慮和我的性別焦慮滾動在一起，成為了這樣新的繪畫。
談到創作過程，我在手繪時幾乎是毫無情緒的，以一種不帶入個人情緒的方式去解決我生活中巨大疼痛的焦慮感，我想站著離自己遠一些才能看自己看得更清楚。另外除了裝置方法外，特別值得一提的是印刷的手法，通過印刷這個媒介和我手繪的矛盾圖騰做對話，形成一種溫度難測的詭局繪畫感；我想這種繪畫感在藝術史上是新的感受和感動。
Work Info
Sambal Belacan in San Francisco (1997)
Madeleine Lim
16mm film, 24:56
來自新加坡的三名第一代亞洲移民女同性戀者拼命打造自己的家園與歸屬感。這部屢獲殊榮的紀錄片探討了文化身份，女同性戀性行為和移民身份如何引發有關歸屬感的強烈質疑。結合劇本化的場景，電影院，詩歌，訪談和新聞短片，這部混合體裁的電影從視覺上傳達了居住在美國的亞洲女同性戀移民的多重經歷。
《三番參巴醬》贏得了1997年聖何塞電影電視委員會的喬伊獎和1998年國家教育媒體網絡的銅獎蘋果獎。它在全球國際電影節兩年多的巡迴放映會中, 座無虛席，並通過美國公共廣播公司播放給數百萬觀眾。
1998年，該電影因其對國家、種族和性的坦率刻畫而在新加坡被禁播。 2020年10月，新加坡政府發布了一項臨時豁免禁令，並允許新加坡國際電影節在節前單元“新浪潮”中放映《三番參巴醬》。電影被使用R21進行分級。根據政府規定，該電影只對包括Madeleine Lim母親在內的33人進行放映。
Three first-generation immigrant Asian lesbians from Singapore grapple to create home and belonging. This award-winning documentary explores how cultural identity, lesbian sexuality, and immigration status raise powerful questions about belonging. Combining scripted scenes, cinema verité, poetry, interviews, and newsreel footage, this mixed-genre film visually conveys the multi-layered experiences of immigrant Asian lesbians living in the U.S.
"Sambal Belacan in San Francisco" won the 1997 Award of Excellence from the San Jose Film & Video Commission's Joey Awards and the 1998 National Educational Media Network's Bronze Apple Award. It was featured at sold-out theaters on the international film festival circuit around the world for over two years and was broadcast on PBS to millions of viewers.
In 1998, the film was banned in Singapore due to its frank portrayal of nationality, race, and sexuality. In October 2020, the Singaporean government issued a one-time exception to their ban and allowed the Singapore International Film Festival to screen "Sambal Belacan" in San Francisco at their pre-festival program New Waves. The film was slapped with an R21 classification rating. Due to government regulations, it screened to an audience of just 33 people, including Madeleine Lim's mother.
Work Info
Bathing on Valencia Street (2021) | Protecting Ricksha, 37 Ross Alley (2021)
The Forbidden City (2021) | A Secret Place, LiPo Lounge (2020)
Chelsea Ryoko Wong
Gouache and watercolor on paper, size varied
Chelsea Ryoko Wong的一系列繪畫作品的靈感來自舊金山女權主義和酷兒文化。場景受到Osento澡堂（1980-2008年在瓦倫西亞街上經營的女同性戀澡堂）的啟發到至今仍在唐人街經營的Li Po Lounge，曾經是1940年代警察與民眾突襲期間，男同性戀者的避風港。
Wong在舊金山一直致力通過文學，互聯網檔案館和電影來研究亞洲酷兒文化的歷史，尋找激發創作靈感來源的地方，事件或想法。從這些歷史性時刻汲取靈感，進而創作響應這一事件的繪畫。這對Wong來說很重要，因為這些場景充滿活力和直觀感受，並且不可以作為插圖展示。Wong希望創建的圖像充滿生機和好奇心，邀請觀眾深入挖掘其含義。
My project is a series of paintings inspired by and celebrating feminist and queer culture in San Francisco. The scenes range from a bath house inspired by Osento, a lesbian bathhouse operating on Valencia street from 1980-2008, to the Li Po Lounge, which is still operating in Chinatown to this day and was once a safe haven for gay men during police raids of the 1940s.
I have been researching the history of Asian queer culture in San Francisco via literature, internet archives and film, looking for places, events or ideas that inspire new works. Drawing inspiration from these historical moments, I am then creating paintings responding to the event. It’s important for me for these scenes to feel energetic and intuitive, and not come off as an illustration. I want the images I create to feel lively and curious, inviting the viewer to dig deeper into the meaning.
Work Info
Password: CCCWomenCobyStephen
Available on view online from 2/19 to 2/23
***Please refer to here for latest policy for in-person visit.
Coby and Stephen Are in Love (2019)
Directed by Luka Yuanyuan Yang and Carlo Nasisse
30min41sec, short film
2018年4月，我受到美國亞洲文化協會的邀請，來到美國進行半年的駐地文化交流。在此過程中，我對生於舊金山的先鋒女導演伍錦霞產生興趣，從而圍繞20世紀演藝圈展開研究，試圖尋找曾活躍在粵劇、電影以及夜總會行業的華裔女性。在遇到主角Coby Yee與都板街舞團（Grant Avenue Follies）的一群女性舞者之後，我逐漸展開一部記錄長片電影的拍攝（該電影《女人世界》目前正在後期製作中，預計2021年底前完成）。 2018年9月，我們為拍攝長片來到哈瓦那，在每天的拍攝結束後，我和我合作的攝像Carlo Nasisse都會和柯比與史蒂芬脫離小組，去尋找能跳舞的地方。我們四人之間產生了一種奇妙的友誼與化學反應。我們決定合導一部關於Coby和Stephen愛情故事的短片。在返回紐約不久後，我們就購買了去加州找柯比與史蒂芬的機票，然後就這樣開始了短片的拍攝。
92歲的柯比經歷了舊金山華埠夜總會年代，是一名退役的舞者，74歲史蒂芬經歷了美國60年代反戰運動，曾是一名實驗電影導演，兩個截然不同的個體晚年在舞池相愛。柯比是史蒂芬的造型師，她更新了史蒂芬的衣櫥，但凡一同外出，他們從頭到腳都是柯比製作的情侶裝；史蒂芬則是柯比的檔案管理員，她畢生積攢的舞者職業照不僅令他著迷，甚至重燃了他的創作動力。在拉斯維加斯終演來臨前，柯比與史蒂芬開始準備二人謝幕之舞。
In April 2018, I was invited by the Asian Cultural Council to do a six-month residency in the United States. During my residency, I became interested in the work of pioneering film director Esther Eng. I started researching the 20th century entertainment industry, trying to find Chinese American women who had been active in Cantonese opera, films, and nightclubs. After I met the main protagonist, Coby Yee, along with a group of woman dancers from the Grant Avenue Follies, I set about filming a feature-length documentary titled Women’s World, which is now in post-production and expected to be completed by the end of 2021. We traveled to Havana in September 2018 to shoot the film. Every day, after we’d finished filming, my cameraman Carlo Nasisse and I would invite Coby and Stephen out to dance. The four of us developed a wonderful friendship filled with a thrilling chemistry. We decided to co-direct a short film to tell the love story between Coby and Stephen. Soon after returning to New York, we flew to California to visit Coby and Stephen. Thus we started shooting our short film.
Coby, 92, is a retired dancer and star of San Francisco’s Chinatown nightclubs. Stephen, 74, is a retired experimental film director who went through the American anti-war movement in the 1960s. These two totally different individuals fell in love on the dance floor during their later years. Coby was Stephen’s stylist: she upgraded his wardrobe. Whenever they went out together, they wore head-to-toe matching outfits made by Coby. Stephen was Coby’s archivist. The photographs of her as a professional dancer throughout her career not only fascinated him, but rekindled his creativity. Before their farewell dance in Las Vegas, Coby and Stephen prepared for their last curtain call.
Work Info
流動閱酷 Queer Reads Library: A Selection
Curated by Mixed Rice Zines / J Wu
+ Queer Reads Lexicon
How do we find each other as queer people? Through our words? Our spaces?
Featuring a selection of 20 titles from Queer Reads Library, curated by Bay Area-based artist J Wu / Mixed Rice Zines, and a glimpse into the ongoing Queer Reads Lexicon project, this exhibition explores queerness through the lens of language and locality.
The Queer Reads Lexicon project includes a digital platform and a free zine, created especially for this exhibit, featuring terms from the lexicon. J Wu’s curated selection is accompanied by personal reflections in English and Chinese about each title. Visit lexicon.qrlib.net and qrlib.net/wo-men to learn more.
「我們」身爲酷兒，如何找到彼此？ 通過我們的話語？ 我們的空間？
是次展覽精選了20本由灣區藝術家J Wu / Mixed Rice Zines策劃的「流動圖書館」，以及一個首次發佈並計畫持續進行，以字詞和地方視角探討酷兒身份的［閱酷字典］項目，當中包括一個網上平台，以及特別爲是次展覽而編制的小誌，公眾可免費取閱。J Wu也準備了中英文感言關於他選擇的書。請去lexicon.qrlib.net和qrlib.net/wo-men查詢。
Blood Brothers: Yuan Chu Min (2020)
Brad Walrond
Poetics and film installation, 25:16 min
該項目的第一個系列展覽被委任為劉凱龍策劃的2019年MOCA台北瘟疫展覽的現場表演裝置。該展覽是台灣首個以艾滋病毒/艾滋病為主題的展覽，現場表演拉開了世界艾滋病日活動中的高潮篇章。 《 Blood Brothers》是詩意的視覺藝術、研究項目和表演裝置，與5名匿名的HIV陽性台灣男子和視覺藝術家Steven A. Williams合作。目的是創作一部詩歌作品，記載台灣艾滋病毒/艾滋病大流行的歷史，同時密切關注這些艾滋病毒/艾滋病患者的生活經驗和故事，以及他們的診斷如何識別身份形成，性別，性慾的觀念，酷兒性，疾病和污名化。該作品挖掘了台灣的殖民歷史，以及它們如何映射到當代、地方性的和全球性的身份。
為了完成這項工作，我製作了一份調查表，並呼籲台灣的艾滋病活動家招募願意參加的台灣艾滋病患者。這些人被要求填寫一份圍繞工作關鍵主題的調查表。每個參與者被要求提供自己的照片。藝術家史蒂文·威廉姆斯（Steven A. Williams）使用他們的圖像創建了數字拼貼畫。在最終圖像上給參與者最後簽名，以保持他們對血清狀況，可見性，公開性和匿名性的意願。這首詩是在2019年12月1日在台北現代藝術館表演的，其中包括一張幻燈片放映，其中包括史蒂文·威廉姆斯（Steven A. Williams）的原創拼貼圖像，這些圖像援引了該詩的許多主題，並且在圖像的兩邊投射了這首詩的普通話版本。
Blood Brothers a poetic, visual arts, research project and performance installation in collaboration with 5 anonymous HIV positive Taiwanese men and visual artist Steven A. Williams. The goal was to create a poetic work that chronicles the history of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Taiwan while paying keen attention to lived experience and stories of these men living with HIV/AIDS and how their diagnosis informs notions of identity formation, sex, desire, queerness, illness, and stigma. The work excavates the colonial histories of Taiwan and how these map onto contemporary, parochial, and global identities. The first iteration of this project was commissioned for a Live Performance Installation for MOCA Taipei’s 2019 Interminable Prescriptions for the Plague Exhibition curated by Kairon Liu. This exhibition was the first HIV/AIDS focused exhibition in Taiwan and the live performance opened their culminating World AIDS Day event.
To accomplish this work I created a questionnaire and called upon HIV/AIDS activists in Taiwan to recruit HIV+ Taiwanese men willing to participate. These men were asked to fill out a questionnaire constructed around the work’s key themes. Each participant was asked to contribute photographs of themselves. Artist Steven A. Williams used their images to create digital collages. Participants were given final sign off on the final images to maintain their wishes concerning serostatus, visibility, disclosure, and anonymity. The poem was performed at MOCA-Taipei on December 1, 2019 and included a slide show including Steven A. Williams original collages images that invoke many of the poem’s themes, and a running mandarin translation of the poem projected on either side of the images.
Work Info
Installation view with Leymusoom Bridge (2021) and Miyoung Leymusoom Kim (2021)
Leymusoom Bridge (2021)
Heesoo Kwon
Video Installation
Heesoo Kwon於CCC畫廊空間展示關於Leymusoom的最新影像作品。Kwon將CCC畫廊建築及華埠轉換改造為3D模式的Leymusoom宇宙。
自2017年以來，Kwon髮起了名為Leymusoom的自傳性女權主義宗教，並使用數字空間打造烏托邦領域，重塑了個人歷史與創傷，從而建立起其女權主義的烏托邦世界。通過使用3D技術渲染她的母系家族角色，Kwon給予了她們第二次生命，並使得她們在之前的家庭生活中的重複和例行公事之外重新獲得一種永恆的3D現實。通過Leymusoom，Kown能夠提取出抽象的時間概念，合乎禮法的愛情、犧牲、創傷、暴力和家庭關係的界限。 Kwon通過3D掃描/建模她的家庭歷史，日常儀式和她周圍的實體空間，進而融合了現實生活和Leymusoom的數字烏托邦世界之間的界限。
Kwon在准备展覽中，试图理解并想象物理位置、Leymusoom和藝術家自己之间的关系。Kwon將物理空間與社區置於通過3D掃描與建模置換到數字形式的Leymusoom宇宙中。
《Leymusoom橋》成為超空間旅行的新門戶，Kwon可以與家人重遇並實現她所設想的烏托邦世界。
Since 2017, I initiated the autobiographical feminist religion 'Leymusoom,” which uses the digital space as a feminist utopian realm to reframes personal history and trauma. By rendering my matrilineal ancestors into this digital utopia, I give them second lives and allow my female ancestors to reclaim a timeless 3D reality outside of the repetitions and routines of their former domestic lives. Through Leymusoom, I am able to abstract conceptions of time, boundaries of love, sacrifice, trauma, violence, and familial relations by 3D scanning/modeling my family history, daily rituals, and the physical spaces around me.
For this work, I transformed the CCC gallery building and its neighborhood, Chinatown, to take place within the Leymusoom world. "Leymusoom Bridge" becomes a new portal for hyperspace travel to meet my family and realize the utopian world that I am envisioning. To prepare the show, I tried to understand and imagine the relationship between the physical site and Leymusoom herself, recalling a special feeling about Chinatown in SF. In 2019, I spent a lot of time around the neighborhood to prepare my solo exhibition at Et Al gallery. Sometimes working on Leymusoom project about myself and my female ancestors in a foreign land feels like very lonely, but while I examined the neighborhood, Chinatown reminded me of my family and hometown. It was not the same with my hometown in Seoul but I felt more comfortable and welcomed there than any other places in the bay area.
Work Info
Suits and Corsages (2015 - Ongoing)
Huang Meng Wen 黃孟雯
Video, Photography
「西裝與香花」藝術計畫勾勒的是台灣 1950 年代的「橋頭十三太妹」,西裝是這群「穿褲仔」面對世界的氣質扮裝展現,「香花」則潛藏著她們獲取經濟資本的才能。而我,又是怎麼與她們相遇。這個計劃隨著阿寶的生命史展開。阿寶,出生於1938年,生於日治時代,經歷戰後國民政府來台、戒嚴直到現在。那是一個她們還未定義自己的年代,也許連同性戀這個名詞都還不為人所知。
身為一個女性與女同志,多少在社會文化脈絡中總是對自身的存在與處境充滿困惑不解,難以自處。後來讀書識字,學會用酷兒(Queer)自我定位,嘗試汲取女性主義(Feminism)的論述來為自己言說。這些固然都給予了我紮實的力量,然而這些飄洋過海輾轉翻譯而來的理解與知識,要套用在土生土長於台灣的我身上,似乎總還是不那麼合身。於是我開始叩問,在我容身的這座島嶼,有著如此蜿蜒的近代史、輾轉的現代性啟蒙,早在遲來的西方知識理論於八○年代的晚近飄向島嶼之前,我相信更早之前,島嶼上一定也有如酷兒的她們存在。於是我開始追索島嶼上的酷兒歷史,同時也追尋到島嶼過去的一段歷史曲折。我想知道與我同樣有著女性及酷兒身分的「她」與「她們」,究竟如何生活於島嶼的過去,從她們「穿的衣服」,或許我能找到屬於自己的剪裁。
2015 年,我正式開始了「西裝與香花」計劃,我開始田調這群以五、六○繁華大稻埕為華麗伸展台的「橋頭十三太妹」,展開一場與「她」們的相遇與對話。「她」們是查某人、是太妹、「她」說「她」們是「穿褲的」。「穿褲的」不僅是「她」們使用島嶼在地語言作為指認彼此身分認同的詞彙,總是精心訂製的西裝和獨門的香花生意,更顯示她們主宰自身經濟資本的能動性。她們的行動與行為,與島嶼的社會變遷及傳統性別文化的流變息息相關,於是從她們的故事,我不只看見酷兒展演的本島剪裁,更看進島嶼幽微歷史的一段,從她們與個人情感鑲嵌的歷史,不僅是同志的歷史,也是女人的歷史,更是島嶼的歷史。
她們的瀟灑與壓抑,寫出精彩卻也暗藏遺憾的篇章。
「西裝與香花」藝術計畫仍在持續,我試圖以不同的創作形式與思維,裝禎出屬於這座島嶼女同志與酷兒的文化記憶實驗。
"Suits and Corsages" depicts the "Thirteen Teddy Girls of Qiaotou" in Taiwan in the 1950s. The teddy girls used suits as their expression of sexual orientation, and the corsages can be referred to as their ability to gain their economic capital. The project began with the life history of A-Bao. A-Bao was born in 1938. In the 60s, she and her lesbian friends broke free from the conservative limitations with their own strength. Such female life experiences had never existed in our memories about the women of the 1960s.
As a female and a lesbian, I often felt that my existence and situation under this sociocultural context were a bit confusing and awkward. Throughout my education, I have learned to self-orient as a queer, and utilized the feminism discourses as my self explanation. I couldn't help but wonder whether there was any historical trace of queers on this island that I live on. I believe there must already have been queers on this island even before western knowledge was introduced to Taiwan in the 1980s. So, I started to investigate the history of queers in Taiwan. As it turned out, the history was also full of twists and turns. I would like to know how she and they, as a female and queer like me, lived on this island in the past.
I officially started my "Suits and Corsages" project in 2015. I conducted field research on the "Thirteen Teddy Girls of Qiaotou" who made their glamorous debut in Dadaocheng in the 1950s and the 1960s. They were females, teddy girls, and "women in pants", as they called themselves. "Women in pants" were not just a local term for them to identify their gender identity. Their exquisite tailor-made suits and the unique corsage business also showed their agency to self-manage their economic capital. Their actions and behaviors were closely connected to the social shifts and the dynamics of traditional gender culture. From their story, I could not only see the unique performance of local queers but also a part of a minor history of the island.
While they made their stunning debut with their suits and the corsage lining, at the same time, they had to abide by certain social order despite their business and relationships outside the family. With the chic look and suppressed ego of theirs, their story also ended up brilliant yet regretful.
"Suits and Corsages" is still an ongoing project. I attempted to design an experiment of cultural memories about lesbians and queers of the island using different creative forms and concepts.
Work Info
In & Out Series (2014 - 2018)
Nicole Pun 潘浩欣
Photography Series
在過去的幾年裏，我採訪了美國、臺灣和香港的女同性戀者，瞭解更多關於她們手的故事。我們的手是我們身體經常使用的機器。對於女同性戀者來說，她們的手有更深更私人的含義。因此，我邀請個人蔘與者在我的鏡頭前表演她們如何觸摸和做愛，從而表演私人的生活。這一系列的照片不僅是她們的肖像 ，也是女同性戀慾望的投射。
當我在美國學習的時候，我開始追溯香港的LGBT歷史。在英國殖民統治的影響下，香港引進了英國的雞姦法。該法律曾將男性之間和異性戀者之間的肛交視爲犯罪。然而，對女同性戀性行爲卻沒有相應的限制。這讓我不禁要問:女同性戀是如何進行親密性行爲的？因此，我開始了這個項目來探索性愛的可能性。
Over the past few years, I interviewed American, Taiwanese and Hong Kong lesbians, to learn more about the stories of their hands. Our hands are a frequently and intensively utilized machine of our body. For lesbians, their hands have deeper and more personal meanings. Therefore, I invited individual participants to perform in front of my lens how they touched and made love to their partners, thereby performing the private. This series of photographs is not only their portraits, but also projections of the lesbian desire.
When I was studying in the US, I began to trace the LGBT history of Hong Kong. Under the influence of the British colonial rule, Hong Kong imported the UK’s sodomy law. That law used to criminalize anal sex between men and between heterosexuals. There is however no equivalent restriction on lesbian sex. This has prompted me to ask: how do lesbians engage in sexual intimacy? As a result, I started on this project to explore the possibilities of sex.
Work Info
When I was a Child (2020)
Chen Han Sheng 陳漢聲
Mixed-Media installation with
kinetic art and silkscreen printing, vinyl
2020年在台灣有幾個印象深刻的事件，包含COVID-19疫情影響全球，曾經一度讓全世界的口罩變成非常稀有的必需品，當時在台灣卻有一個小男孩，因為拿到粉紅色的口罩，而不敢用，這個事件，引起全台灣對於色彩和性別上的討論。這一年也是葉永鋕事件（PS１）二十週年，相關的議題也隨之有所短暫的探討。作品〈是青春〉是在這樣的環境中生長出來的創作，紀錄著這段時間中，對於性別、對於生命、對於時間上的思考。
「長輩在過去，都躲在房間裡做春仔花，不給外人看。」
「這個萬年青，是他很的小時候，他就用這個罐子插著，所以這個我也捨不得換。」
「古早的人很節儉，捨不得浪費，所以把剩下的繡線拿來再利用。」
「他是一個愛笑愛唱歌，也喜歡編織跟烹飪的孩子。」
「春仔花只教自己的女兒，讓女兒結婚後，至少有個一技之長。」
「孩子們，你們要勇敢，天地創造你們這樣的一個人，一定有一個使命。」
鹿港的施麗梅老師指導藝術家製作春仔花，在教學過程中，分享了與春仔花技術無關，卻很有趣的小故事。而在玫瑰少年葉永鋕母親陳君汝的紀錄影片裡，那一棵萬年青格外的吸引我…「青」是萬年青，「春」是春仔花，在紅與綠、花與草、真與假、甚至男與女等看似相對的寓意或指涉中，透過裝置細小的擺動，召喚一種凝視，思考青春與時間的關係。
PS1：*葉永鋕（Yeh Yung-Chih）的屍體於2000年在其學校的洗手間中被發現，他因表現出“女性化”傾向而被欺負。葉永鋕的去世導致台灣頒布了《性別平等教育法》。
One of the more notable moments for Taiwan in 2020 was that mask usage became a rare necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though masks were important to secure the safety of a community, there was an incident where a little boy in Taiwan refused to wear a pink mask because of its color. This case sparked a renewed discussion about color and gender across the country. 2020 was also the 20th anniversary of the Yeh Young-Chih incident, prompting more reflection and discussion across the country. "When I was a Child"grew out of these dialogues, touching upon gender, life, and time during this period.
When conceptualizing this work, I reflected on Shu Li-Mei of Lukang, twined flower artist and Chen Chun-Ju, mother of “The Rose Boy” Yeh Yung-Chinh:
“In the past, adults would hide in their rooms when making twined flowers, because they didn’t want anyone from the outside to see.”
“He planted this Rohdea japonica in this bottle when he was very little, so I’ve kept it all this time and can’t bear to replace it.”
“People were quite frugal in the past, so leftover threads were reused so they don’t go to waste.”
“He was a child that laughed and sang a lot, and he also loved to knit and cook.”
“The techniques of making twined flowers were only passed down to one’s own daughter. This way the daughter would at least have one skill she was good at after she got married.”
“Children, you must be brave. You were created and brought to this world and must have been entrusted with a mission.”
While Shi Li-Mei from Lukang teaches the art of twined flowers (known as “春仔花,” where the word “春” invokes a sense of youth), she would share many interesting stories that are unrelated to the techniques of making twined flowers. I was also particular attracted to the way Chen Chun-Ju, mother of “The Rose Boy” Yeh Yung-Chih*talked about the perennial Rohdea japonica plant in the documentary film in memory of Yeh (Rohdea japonica plant is known as “萬年青,” which also holds a double meaning of forever youth.) Between the green plant and the red twined flowers, between reality and fabrication, and between the seemingly contrasting implications and insinuations of masculinity and femininity, through the subtle movements on the installation, the work calls for a witnessing on the relations between youth and time.
PS1:*Yeh Yung-Chih, whose body was found in the bathroom in his school in 2000, was known to have been bullied for displaying “feminine” tendencies. His death led to the enactment of the Gender Equality Education Act in Taiwan.
Work Info
43-second video excerpt* To see the full piece, please refer to here for latest CCC policy on in-person gallery visit.
Ever Wanting (for Margaret Chung), 2021
Tina Takemoto
Film, 5:50min, loop
《永不知足 (致張馬珠)》是一部實驗性電影，探討1930至40年代舊金山女性對同性戀的渴望。它的靈感來自於張馬珠(1889-1959），她是美國出生的第一位中國女性醫生。張馬珠在大學期間被稱為“ Mike”，她嘗試過男性化和女性化的性別表現。儘管張瑪珠一生都是沒有出櫃，但她與女同性戀詩人Elsa Gidlow和藝人Sophie Tucker（最後一位Red Hot Mamas）有著親密而又情慾的關係。張瑪珠崇敬歌劇歌手莉莉·龐斯（Lily Pons），並自己也在年輕的明星和名人包圍之中。她對航空的痴迷使她“照拂“了1500多名美國軍事人員，其中還包括“飛虎隊”的飛行員。張瑪珠還幫助建立了女子軍事團體WAVES，但由於出現了女同性戀的謠言而被禁止加入。1939年的電影《唐人街之王》中，安娜·梅·王（據傳也有同性事務）在鐘博士及其在唐人街的醫療實踐的基礎上扮演了主角。鮮為人知的是，鍾某通過與暴徒情婦弗吉尼亞·希爾（弗吉尼亞州西格格爾的前女友）的聯繫，參與了鴉片和海洛因的販毒活動。這部電影預示了鐘對女性的無限滿足和無盡渴望，而這部電影是由白人軍事英雄，護士和名人組成的，他們涉足毒品，色情手術和奇特的飛行。
Ever Wanting (for Margaret Chung) is an experimental film exploring queer desire among women in San Francisco in the 1930s-40s. It is inspired by Margaret Chung (1889-1959), the first American-born Chinese female physician. Known as “Mike” during her college years, Chung experimented with masculine and feminine gender presentation. Although “closeted” throughout her life, Chung had intimate and erotic relationships with many women including lesbian poet Elsa Gidlow and popular entertainer Sophie Tucker, the “Last of the Red Hot Mamas.” Chung worshipped opera singer Lily Pons and surrounded herself with young starlets and celebrities. Her obsession with aviation led her to “adopt” more than 1500 US military personnel including the “Flying Tigers,” the daredevil pilots who flew tiger shark-faced combat planes. Chung also helped establish the women’s military group WAVES, but was barred from joining due to rumors of lesbianism. In the 1939 film King of Chinatown, Anna May Wong (also rumored to have same-sex affairs) played a leading role based on Dr. Chung and her medical practice in Chinatown. Lesser known is Chung’s probable involvement with the drug trafficking of opium and heroin through her association with mob mistress Virginia Hill, the ex-girlfriend of “Bugsy” Siegel. This film envisions the euphoria and despair of Chung’s insatiable desire for women and belonging within a sea of white military heroes, nurses, and celebrities as it delves into drugs, sapphic surgeries, and queer flights of fancy.
Work Info
Artist Bios
YAO HONG
Yao Hong is a 1994-born taiwanese visual artist/transgender artist. 2D drawing is the main creative medium, including installation, performance, relational art, etc.; the creative process often starts with drawing, using various art forms to interrogate contemporary painting. A majority of the work explores the collective subconsciousness and physical anxiety in Taiwan; art making is a way to decipher the world, drawing a method of responding to relationship issues or pain.
BRAD WALROND
Poet, author, mixed-media conceptual and performance artist, and activist Brad Walrond is a graduate of The City College of New York and earned his M.A in Political Science from Columbia University. Brad’s poetics, performance, and multi-disciplinary work interpolate between virtual reality, identity formation, and human consciousness at the intersection of race, gender, sex, and desire.
Brad aims with his work to provoke futurist explorations of how we experience and co-create historical, remembered, and imagined time and encourages us to identify and piece together the common and conflicting threads of our human inheritance by amplifying and interrogating the great power and contradictions inherent to identity.
TINA TAKEMOTO
Tina Takemoto is an artist and scholar whose work explores Asian American queer history including the hidden dimensions of same-sex intimacy and queer sexuality for Japanese Americans incarcerated by the US government during World War II.
Takemoto has received grants from Art Matters, ArtPlace, +LAB Artist Residency, the Fleishhacker Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the San Francisco Arts Commission. Takemoto's work has been exhibited and performed at Oakland Museum of California, Chinese Culture Center, Asian Art Museum, Oceanside Museum of Art, GLBT History Museum, New Conservatory Theatre, Sabina Lee Gallery, Sesnon Gallery, SF Camerawork, SOMArts, SFMOMA, and Vargas Museum.
MADELEINE LIM
Madeleine Lim is the founding Executive/Artistic Director of Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP). As one of a small number of queer women of color filmmakers on the international film festival circuit in the late 90's, she saw that only queer women of color would tell their own authentic stories. Decades ahead of mainstream conversations about gender and racial equity in film, she founded QWOCMAP in 2000. Her belief was that a community of filmmaker-activists could change the craft of filmmaking and the leadership of social justice movements. Under Madeleine’s leadership, QWOCMAP’s award-winning Filmmaker Training Program has nurtured the creation of over 450 films, the largest catalog of LBTQ+ BIPOC films in existence.
Madeleine is an award-winning filmmaker with over 25 years of experience as a producer, director, cinematographer, and editor.
Her films have screened at sold-out theaters at international film festivals around the world, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, and Amsterdam Amnesty International Film Festival. Her work has been featured at universities, museums, and broadcast to millions on PBS. Her film Sambal Belacan in San Francisco (1997) remains banned in Singapore.
HEESOO KWON
South Korean artist Heesoo Kwon mines the depths of personal cosmologies and Korean shamanism to sculpt a virtual confessional space of deep introspection.
Heesoo Kwon is a visual artist and anthropologist from South Korea and is currently based in the Bay Area, California. Kwon received her Masters of Fine Art from UC Berkeley in 2019. Her work has been the subject of a solo exhibition at Et Al and Studio 2W, San Francisco, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley and CICA Museum and Visual Space Gunmulsai, South Korea. She has participated in group exhibitions at the CICA Museum; BAMPFA, Berkeley; Root Division, San Francisco; SOMArts, San Francisco; Embark Gallery, San Francisco; and Slash Gallery, San Francisco, among others. In 2012 Kwon received the Female Inventor of the Year Award from the Korean Intellectual Property Office. Her other accolades include the Young Korean Artist Award from the CICA Museum, the finalist of the 20th Seoul International ALT Cinema & Media Festival, and the Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prize for Photos and Art Practice from UC Berkeley.
NICOLE PUN
Nicole Pun is a visual artist based in Hong Kong. She uses photography, video, performance to explore queer identity, desire and female representation. Her artistic practice involves collaborations and interviews with strangers. She received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2014. She has a BSSc from the Chinese of University of Hong Kong, with a background in Journalism and Communication. Her work has been exhibited in Circus Gallery in Los Angeles; Avenue 50 Studio in Los Angeles; SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco; McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga; “In & Out” Nicole Pun Solo Exhibition at Lumenvisum in Hong Kong. She is the recipient of a number of grants and awards, including Yale-China Arts Fellowship, Emerging Artists Scheme of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, WMA Masters Special Mention Award and First Prize of Chiquita Canyon landfill art competition.
QUEER READS LIBRARY
Queer Reads Library (QRL) is a collection of books and independently published zines centred around queer narratives and themes. Established in 2018, QRL is a collaboration between artist-curator Kaitlin Chan, artist-writer Rachel Lau and artist-publisher Beatrix Pang.
MIXED RICE ZINES/J WU
I'm a queer artist and zine maker based on Chochenyo Ohlone land(Oakland, CA). Through drawing and making mixed rice zines, my intention is to build community with other queer and trans artists of color, by exploring identity and documenting our lives. Outside of the zine world, I am a carpenter/handy-person, so-so musician, and Chinese medicine nerd.
HUANG MENG WEN
Huang Meng Wen was born in Taiwan. She graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts with an MFA in Trans-disciplinary Arts. Within her academic background on sociology and film art, she combines the two as her artistic practice. She focuses on gender issues in Taiwan and Asian cultural context. Through observation of gender issues, she expanded another field of vision to understand Taiwan and East Asian history and culture. Her image style combines film methods with contemporary art video, and she interweaves the narrative image aesthetics in photography and video.
Her recent projects focus on finding the history of marginal women. In the project of " Once upon a time...... ' The woman in pants ' in Taiwan", through the life history of A Bao who was born in 1938 and Taiwanese newspaper archives, the figure of early queer - " The woman in pants " in Taiwan was explored. In the project " Hertory and the Stigma ", she revealed how sex workers in Taiwan's state system became a part of national mobilization in Taiwan's recent history of regime change. She practiced her art project with photography, experimental film, video, installation, and essay writing.
CHELSEA RYOKO WONG
Chelsea Ryoko Wong is a painter and muralist whose vibrant figure compositions reflect the diversity and style of her home in San Francisco. Through the use of watercolor, gouache, and acrylic techniques, Wong creates busy scenes of co-mingling people drawing from real-life events and her imagination. Her work is known for celebrating racial and cultural diversity, promoting working-class communities, and evoking a sense of curiosity and wonder. Through heavily stylized and idyllic imagery, Wong creates an encouraging visual statement promoting joy, acceptance, and openness to one another.
Wong began her studies at Parsons School of Design (New York, NY), and finished at California College of the Arts with a B.A. in Printmaking in 2010. She is the first recipient of the Hamaguchi Emerging Artists Fellowship award at Kala in Berkeley, CA (2010) and has recently completed a mural for the FB AIR Program in San Francisco, CA (2019).
LUKA YUANYUAN YANG
Luka Yuanyuan Yang (b.1989, Beijing) is a visual artist and filmmaker. She does visual storytelling through film, photography, artist books, and performance. Yang received awards internationally from organizations such as Art Power 100 (2019); Asian Cultural Council (2017); Huayu Youth Award(2016); Rencontres d’Arles(2015); Magenta Foundation(2013); Three Shadows Tierney Fellowship (2012) etc. Her recent solo exhibitions include ‘Shanghai Low’, OCAT, Shanghai, China, 2020; ’Dalian Mirage’, AIKE, Shanghai, China, 2019; ’Theater of Crossroads’, Chinese American Arts Council Gallery 456, New York, United States, 2018; ’Interval’, Modern Art Base, Shanghai, China, 2018; ’At the Place of Crossed Sights’, C-Space, Beijing, China, 2016.
In 2018, Yang was the artist-in-residence at Art in General and UnionDocs in New York. In 2019, her first short film ‘Coby and Stephen are in Love' co-directed with Carlo Nasisse was screened at multiple international film festivals such as Atlanta Film Festival, Camden International Film Festival, Asian American International Film Festival, and Women Make Waves, etc. Her first feature film Women’s World is currently in the post-production phase.
CARLO NASISSE
Carlo Nasisse (b.1994, Athens, Georgia), currently lives and works in New York. He is a director, photographer, and cinematographer pursuing long-form projects that explore regional culture, ecology, and the relationships between humans, landscape, and politics. His work has been featured in SXSW, Slamdance, Big Sky, Florida Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and Oaxaca. His essay film “East Side'' screened as part of the Experimental Response Cinema’s “Wake America'' series. His short documentary, The South Texas Cow Punk, won the student grand jury prize at the Oak Cliff film festival in 2017. In June 2019 his short film, “Coby and Stephen are in Love'' screened as part of an exhibition titled “An Opera for Animals'' at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. This same film will appear at the Times Museum in Berlin in late 2019. He has photographed feature and short narrative films, as well as numerous documentaries. In the Summer of 2018, he was at the Union Docs center for documentary art in Brooklyn. He is currently co-directing with Mexican geographer, Geronimo Barrera, his first feature-length documentary, Xa-Lyu K'ya, about the relationship between international carbon trading schemes and indigenous autonomy within the endangered cloud forests of Oaxaca, Mexico.
CHEN HAN SHENG
Born in 1988, Kaohsiung (Taiwan), and graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts. Currently a Director of the TAIPEI Art Creator, and a Curator of Walking Grass Agriculture. He is an expert in experimental animation, mixed media, and kinetic installations. He also extends his own background and identity to his practice, primarily focus on agriculture, the natural environment, and gender issues.
His works have won the silver medal in the Taipei Arts Award, the first prize of Next Art Tainan, and honorable mention in Art Olympia 2019 (Japan); selected for the Kaohsiung Award, Digital art award Taipei, National Art Exhibition ROC, and the Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale. He has been residence in Art35 (Zhejiang, China), Ne'-Na Contemporary Art Space (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Tentacles (Bangkok, Thailand), Cattle Depot Artists Village (Hong Kong), and also The Pier-2 Art Center, Bamboo Curtain Studio, and Treasure Hill Artist Village in Taiwan. His works have been exhibited in Centre Georges Pompidou (France), Bangkok Art Biennale (Thailand), BIENNAL DE CERAMICA (Spain), MIMIARTEXTILE (Italy), and Lishui Photography Festival (China).
Programs Calendar 展覽活動
Virtual & in-person programs presented with local and international partners:
3/25
Women's History Month: SF Pride x CCC Collaboration
Thursday, March 25, 2021
5/12
“Preserving and Uplifting Trans and Queer API Stories: An interactive zine making workshop" w/ APIENC’s Dragon Fruit Project
Wednesday, May 12, 2021丨5PM (PST)
5/14
"By Youth, for You x Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project"
Queer and Transgender Pacific Islander & Asian Youth Films
41 Ross Alley in Chinatown | 24/7
6/4
Coexist: Curating Queer Communities in Asia (中/英 )
Friday, June 4, 2021丨6 - 7:30PM (PST)
June 5, Saturday (10-11:30AM, Taiwan)
6/18
Screening of Shanghai Queer + Q&A with Filmmakers (中/英 )
Friday, June 18 2021丨6 - 7:40PM (PST)
June 19, Saturday (10-11:40PM, Shanghai)
TBD
July: Artist Talk with Queer Reads Library
API-Equality Northern California & The Dragon Fruit Project
Dragon Fruit Project Resource Page
APIENC is a political home for trans, non-binary, and queer Asians and Pacific Islanders in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2012, we partnered with Amy Sueyoshi on the Dragon Fruit Project, an intergenerational oral history project that documents our experiences with love, activism, and community. Queer and trans API stories have often been invisibilized—we are erased from the histories of our broader LGBTQ and API communities, and the trailblazers of our community are forgotten. When we don’t know our histories, we can’t know our futures. The Dragon Fruit Project started as a way to document LGBTQ API histories, and over the years it became a community-held archive, an intergenerational relationship-building experiment, and a labor of love to activists of all generations.
Over the past eight years, over 150 people have shared their stories, interviewed, transcribed, edited, created art, facilitated workshops, and held community conversations. When we bring people together for the purpose of making ourselves seen, we uncover things about our stories that would have previously been forgotten. We create life-affirming connections that remind us that our work is necessary and valuable. We situate ourselves within a longer lineage of fierce activists fighting to be free. The Dragon Fruit Project has collected the oral histories of over 90 LGBTQ API people. Now, we continue to work to disseminate these stories and uplift the experiences of our people.
Coexist Exhibition 多元成展
Founded in 2014, Coexist Exhibition - Asia Contemporary Art Platform focuses on contemporary art of gender issues. We held at least one entity exhibition every year to bring artists who care about gender and marriage equality together via curation, international exchanges, and space/unit match, along with authors and works that are willing to be discussed by the context of LGBTQI . It is expected to achieve the politics of difference and gender identity.
Queer Reads Library
Queer Reads Library (QRL) is a collection of books and independently published zines centred around queer narratives and themes. Established in 2018, QRL is a collaboration between artist-curator Kaitlin Chan, artist-writer Rachel Lau and artist-publisher Beatrix Pang.
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project
Film Festivals, Trainings & More
QWOCMAP uses film to shatter stereotypes and bias, reveal the lived truth of inequality, and build understanding and community around art and social justice.
QWOCMAP creates, exhibits, and distributes high-impact films that authentically reflect the lives of queer women of color (cisgender & transgender), and gender variant, and transgender people of color (of any orientation), and address the vital, intersecting social justice issues that concern our multiple communities.
QWOCMAP’s vision nurtures filmmakers as artist-activist leaders for social change.
San Francisco Pride
With over 250 parade contingents, 200 exhibitors, and more than a dozen community-run stages and venues, San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade is the largest LGBT gathering in the nation. The two-day celebration is free and open to all.
The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee (San Francisco Pride) is a non-profit membership organization founded to produce the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration & Parade.
We are dedicated to education, commemoration of LGBT heritage, and celebration of LGBT culture and liberation. A world leader in the Pride movement, we are also a grant-giving organization through our Community Partners Program.
Shanghai Queer Team (Xiangqi Chen, Jiamin Hu, Ann Yu)
Shanghai Queer is a first-of-its-kind documentary film about LGBTQ’s pursuit of equality and freedom in Shanghai, China. The documentary tells the collective memories of the development of Shanghai’s LGBTQ community over the past 15 years (2003-2018), presenting and focusing on the mission, growth, and thoughts of NGOs, activists, scholars, and artists in the gender equality movement under the change of urban spaces. Through oral interviews with activists and tours around local queer spaces, the documentary discusses China's LGBTQ-related issues and depicts a picture of local activism fighting for the minority's equality.
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