bell's
Bell’s
2020-2021
Performance
Video documentary
We concern our health more than we can ever imagine since last year. Currently there is a hyper tension in our community that as if anyone simply feeling unwell, we worry that something serious will be happened to him/her. Yet paying attentions to all these details do not guarantee any solid safety in our lives. There is an absurdity in life that we are too unable to predict, prepare, control and change. I was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a type of facial paralysis in September 2020, during the serious outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. The symptoms includes a temporary inability to control the facial muscles on the left side of my face which took weeks to recover.
Meanwhile we believe human beings are contouring the nature through science and technology, it is merely our fantasy. We learned that human beings are still very fragile and helpless in fighting with diseases and sickness and we are still employing ancient method such as physical distancing to prevent the spread of disease.
Though we believe in medical advancement, the cause of Bell’s Palsy is unknown, thought as a result of inflammation of the facial nerve that the pressure produced on the nerve where it exits the skull within its bony canal blocks the transmission of neural signals or damaging the nerve. This disease created a total new body-mind experience. As you can imagine, apart from those people who are suffered from nerves diseases, through our decades experience “getting along” with our body, we are very convinced that our mind is the most truth-worthy, controllable, efficient and the most “secure” key to control our bodies. There is almost no doubt that we question our ability in controlling our bodies basic movement such as closing our eyes, zipping our lips and opening our mouth; and when it happens, these limitations and obstacles create a personal distrusted zone that encourage exploring. Viewing my face as a zone of isolation and as an unfamiliar object, and consistent with my practise of employing a mixture of autobiography, documentary and anthropology, I attempt to investigate the exploration of mind-body control versus physical constraints by employing my own body and its condition as the medium.
It includes:
Left video recorded the movement of facial expression during the influence of Bell’s Palsy. Due to the influence of Bell’s Palsy, there are facial movements and expressions that escape conventional experience.
Right video recorded the attempt to intimate the facial expression during the sick moment, and the video was taken in 2021 after I am fully recovered from the disease.
This work will illustrate the condition of the artists’ will and the controlling power against the physical constraints as well as the possibilities in re-approaching the unfamiliarity in mind-body control. The imbalance facial expressions and movements provide an unfamiliar, provoking challenge and understanding to both the artists and the viewers.
2020-2021
Performance
Video documentary
We concern our health more than we can ever imagine since last year. Currently there is a hyper tension in our community that as if anyone simply feeling unwell, we worry that something serious will be happened to him/her. Yet paying attentions to all these details do not guarantee any solid safety in our lives. There is an absurdity in life that we are too unable to predict, prepare, control and change. I was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a type of facial paralysis in September 2020, during the serious outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. The symptoms includes a temporary inability to control the facial muscles on the left side of my face which took weeks to recover.
Meanwhile we believe human beings are contouring the nature through science and technology, it is merely our fantasy. We learned that human beings are still very fragile and helpless in fighting with diseases and sickness and we are still employing ancient method such as physical distancing to prevent the spread of disease.
Though we believe in medical advancement, the cause of Bell’s Palsy is unknown, thought as a result of inflammation of the facial nerve that the pressure produced on the nerve where it exits the skull within its bony canal blocks the transmission of neural signals or damaging the nerve. This disease created a total new body-mind experience. As you can imagine, apart from those people who are suffered from nerves diseases, through our decades experience “getting along” with our body, we are very convinced that our mind is the most truth-worthy, controllable, efficient and the most “secure” key to control our bodies. There is almost no doubt that we question our ability in controlling our bodies basic movement such as closing our eyes, zipping our lips and opening our mouth; and when it happens, these limitations and obstacles create a personal distrusted zone that encourage exploring. Viewing my face as a zone of isolation and as an unfamiliar object, and consistent with my practise of employing a mixture of autobiography, documentary and anthropology, I attempt to investigate the exploration of mind-body control versus physical constraints by employing my own body and its condition as the medium.
It includes:
Left video recorded the movement of facial expression during the influence of Bell’s Palsy. Due to the influence of Bell’s Palsy, there are facial movements and expressions that escape conventional experience.
Right video recorded the attempt to intimate the facial expression during the sick moment, and the video was taken in 2021 after I am fully recovered from the disease.
This work will illustrate the condition of the artists’ will and the controlling power against the physical constraints as well as the possibilities in re-approaching the unfamiliarity in mind-body control. The imbalance facial expressions and movements provide an unfamiliar, provoking challenge and understanding to both the artists and the viewers.