Chih - Chien Wang Temporairement... The action of taking pictures links to performance. Camera is in between the two: the one who presents and the one who is hidden behind the viewfinder. Even if both do not intend to perform, the gesture and the life are abstracted by light and time. The temporality becomes the ruler of reality. My work is focusing on the ambiguity of serving images. I treat an image as the master of life, and I use the subjectivity in ma-nipulating images. I am myself a specimen of the passing time, and the camera is a mirror which attracts life temp-orarily but constantly in performance. With time, hurting won’t hurt anymore. This work includes several photographs of still-life taken in Montreal and two videos taken back home in Taiwan. Moving in between two places is similar to shifting in front or behind the camera. Self-performing and serving images are woven together. Somehow, temporality neutralizes feelings while continuity is comforting. However, both need to be discovered. April 6th, 2005 Chih - Chen Wang Born in 1970, Tainan, Taiwan Graduated from The Cinema and Theatre department, The Chinese Culture University, Taipei, in 1994 Worked as a daily news cinematographer for two TV companies in Taipei from 1995 to 1997 Worked as a documentary cinematographer and a documentary director for four TV companies in Taiwan from 1997 to 2001 Moved to Montreal in January 2002 Currently study in the graduate program, Fine Arts department, Concordia, Montreal Group exhibition: “Ignition” – Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, January 13th to February 13th, 2004 “Forced Air” – Concordia MFA Group Show, March 5th to March 18th, 2004 “Photography and Performance – part 2” – Dazibao, April 15th to May 22nd, 2004 Grant: “Approach” – CIAM 2003-2004 Chih - Chien Wang I was born in south Taiwan, where people mostly followed the plough. On a rainy day, the day Chiang Kaishek died, my parents immigrated to Taipei, the biggest city in Taiwan. I don’t know why I use the word “immigrate”, in spite of how small an island Taiwan is. I moved to Montreal in January 2002. Finally I went back to school to study photography in Montreal. Things shifted in their own rhythm. Before I came to Canada, I had been working as a documentary cinematographer and director for several television companies for a few years. People are what concern me. My approach to contemporary photographic practice is also based on the same concerns. It’s about life. Making documentary is a challenging work, no matter how familiar I’ve been with the procedure. Even though experiences have enriched my intent to construct my work, the visual language of documentary compared to contemporary photography is very different. On the other hand, the cultures in my country and the culture in Canada are also different. Learning to express means to learn how to see. For this reason, I started to reexamine my visual cognition. It’s like cooking my home dishes in Montreal. I remember the taste but I can’t find the same material. The dish is transformed. However, I know it’s still the dish. Not only objects are transformed, but also my own body. Learning to recognize myself became another practice of my art making. Perhaps I know objects and the world more than before. Some goods here are the same as in my country, but now, I recognize them more deeply. I know the touch, the smell and the appearance of them in a vivid way, which is like I first time encounter them. This concentration brings me back to a pure recognition of my senses. In between two places, I built two homes and two lives. Also, I cut myself to two. I’m a combination. Chih-Chien Wang |
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