Loss, repetition and the everyday

Abstract

My doctoral research aims to explore artistic obsession through repetitive documentation of the domestic and the everyday. Drawing upon the resources of my cultural heritage, I experiment with synthesizing cross-cultural and cross­ historical forms. Through theoretical research and creative practice, I use photography, large-scale installations, moving image projections and two­ dimensional visual images (paintings, drawings and prints) to articulate my relationship to family and memories. Starting with research into masters of the moving image such as Andrei Tarkovsky, photographers of the American 'underclass' Robert Franks, and installation artists Mona Hatoum and Yayoi Kusama, I articulate my own relationship to family and memory through various mediums in my practice. My varied cultural background - Taiwan, Japan, the US, the UK - as well as my personal experiences, are the basis of my exploration of still photography and the moving image, particularly as projected onto objects and environments, and my development of large-scale installations and two-dimensional works. Through further research into historical painting and printmaking traditions, and contemporary visual artist On Kawara, I explore the tensions and exchanges between the aesthetic concerns of 'east' and 'west' which became the most significant resource for my works. I take inspiration from my culture, background, memories, a traumatised childhood in Taiwan and Japan; my early adulthood in the US and this last decade in UK. These experiences and memories are the fertile ground for my art practice. Art practice allows me to bring new energy to the burden of memories and dealing with loss, to make sense of the world and of myself. Although the content of my work seems personal, loss is a universal human experience. Throughout the last two decades I have been writing, drawing and taking photos. These activities become my research tools for my practice. Like an archaeologist, I take inspiration directly from the accumulation of these primary research materials, I then develop them into projects with various mediums. I believe through the process of documenting life as it happens, new works will organically develop. I find narratives of human nature in these developed materials. I believe artists' ultimate responsibility is to reveal universal truths through exploring their lives and experiences.