TO ENCLOSE ONE’S MOUTH

The phrase “To enclose one’s mouth” is the literal translation for the Chinese word for “return” or 回 (wui/huí). Studying the etymology of the word, Chan discovered that the Chinese character originally looked more like a spiral, morphing into two concentric circles, eventually finding its way to its current form. For the artist, the journey of the word for ‘returning’ was a perfect metaphor for her own artistic inquiries; the path from fluid to rigid; the turning from soft to hard; the gradual changes in language, people and the world around. 

In this installation, Chan has written a poem about the concept of “returning” in English. As part of this project, Chan has Google-translated the poem into Chinese. In a Sisyphean turn, Chan will write each of the characters from the Google-translated poem ten times on a looped scroll of silk, eventually writing each of the poems in full ten times. For Chan, this speaks to her childhood experiences of learning Chinese; having to write and write and re-write individual characteristics; a process she feels she is yet to master.

To Enclose One’s Mouth was a part of Familiar Stranger—a group show featuring artists Shumon Ahmed, Chun Yin Rainbow Chan, Bashir Makhoul, Veer Munshi, Shireen Taweel and Curtis Taylor. Familiar Stranger was curated by Dr. Mikala Tai and presented at 4A Centre For Contemporary Asian Art.

4A Centre For Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney.
7 April – 21 May 2017