Hui-Ying Tsai

Mother

Mother, an interactive shell-shaped sculpture by Hui-Ying Tsai, features sound fragments of two Taiwanese lullabies that the artist’s grandmother used to sing. This siren-like sculpture starts singing quietly as the viewer approaches, and the volume increases as the viewer nears the opening of the shell. Over the last century, the songs have been transformed by Taiwan’s history: They were first folk songs sung by farmers working in rice fields. Then, during the country’s Japanese occupation, the lyrics expanded to become anti-colonialism before finally morphing into lullabies post-WWII. History and mythology underlie the foundation of spirituality when first-hand experiences wither away with the death of the flesh. In time, a person becomes a principle, and that abstraction continues to function in reality through various forms. Mother carries the evolving exchange of material and spirit which embeds on the physical and metaphysical level in everyday life.

website
instagram