Transformation
Urban Landscape - Los Angeles
Ghost Town
Charlene Shih
Artist Statement
My early works of painting, installation, animation, and video have all related to the role of me being a female Asian artist. They cannot be separated from the Chinese painting and calligraphy that I was nurtured with since birth. The works are a constant struggle between east and west; desire and morality, and the process of finding my own identity.
At age 28, I finished the experimental film “Women”, an animated film that was done completely using ink on rice paper. It includes all of the concepts and ideas I expressed in my previous works. “Women” was a milestone for me. After completing “Women”, I could relinquish the feminist topics and Chinese painting and calligraphy obsessions I had explored .
It has been over a decade since “Women” was completed. Since then, my focus has switched to family, friends, and controversial topics in the society. But even after a decade, I realized that women’s roles have not changed much. The style of Chinese paintings and calligraphy have not altered either as we walk into a new century.
After trying to break all the rules, my role is still identified as a female director, a daughter, a wife. It doesn’t matter how hard I struggle, in the end I am just like all the other women, put back into a small box that everyone can identify with and agree upon. My work continues to struggle against the rules and lingering the tradition.
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