The photographs of Hou’s new series Complexing Bodies expand on her earlier work by taking a complex and multi-layered approach, both theoretically and physically, to Taiwan’s art, culture, history, and position in relation to the West.
The series originates in Hou’s interest in the painting Market (1945) by the Taiwanese artist Li Shih-chiao (1908-1995). Market depicts a woman from Shanghai walking in a street market in Taiwan, during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945). The woman stands in as an other, in a colonial environment. Hou’s new work tackles moments of contact between different cultures and pays keen attention to hybridization, globalization, and empire.
As with complexing groups that link to a metal to coordinate bonds, each layer of Hou I-Ting’s work, from her body to the embroidery, serves as a commentary on the socio-political concepts of center and periphery. Hou I-Ting’s body, fashionably dressed and set in the few remaining unregulated street markets in Taipei, becomes a vessel that can contains space, culture, and both tangible and intangible values. The handmade embroideries, modeled after Western canonical artworks, such as Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait (1434, The National Gallery, London, United Kingdom), provide an additional level that questions and unsettles preconceived notions of art history. Together, the layers of her works bring into relief Taiwan’s position within local and global.
