Ventriloquists : Liang Mei-Lan and Emily Su
video installation
2009
video installation
2009
Liang Mei-Lan (short version) from Cheng-Ta YU on Vimeo.
Emily Su (short version) from Cheng-Ta YU on Vimeo.
Filmed at the Won Won Building in Taipei Ventriloquists: Liang Mei-Lan and Emily Su is a film of two women from the Philippines who married into Taiwanese families. Having lived in this foreign land for over a decade both women have come to use the local language as an essential tool in everyday life, but because of their different backgrounds they use the language in different ways. When interacting with Liang Mei-Lan, I attempted to converse with her in three languages (Mandarin, Taiwanese and English). When communicating with Emily, who has no Taiwanese citizenship, I used Mandarin and English. All three of us were using forms of voice that were not particularly “official or standardised”. It was a conversation within the cracks of language and unable to always convey what we meant situations of miscommunication and dissonance occasionally arose. Eventually I asked them to sing a Chinese song, in an attempt to liberate them from the intangible box that inherently exists in the give-and-take of language, and to set free the poignant images of the disparity between foreign cultures.
《附身【聲】者：梁美蘭與艾蜜莉蘇》是拍攝在台北市金萬萬大樓裡的兩位菲藉台灣媳婦，十幾年來在異地的生活，當地的語言變成了她們生活的必須工具，但是由於家庭背景不同，習慣的語言也不相近。在與梁美蘭的互動中，我試圖運用三種語言（國語、台語、英語）與她談天。另外，與沒有台灣身分證的艾蜜莉則用著國語與英語來溝通，我們皆用並不太「標準」的語音交談著，遊走在語言傳遞辭不達意似的細縫上，時而產生會錯意與走音的情況。最後，我再請他們唱一首中文歌，試圖解放原本存在於彼此語言上的無形固有的框架，與異地文化差異的悲情意象。
《附身【聲】者：梁美蘭與艾蜜莉蘇》是拍攝在台北市金萬萬大樓裡的兩位菲藉台灣媳婦，十幾年來在異地的生活，當地的語言變成了她們生活的必須工具，但是由於家庭背景不同，習慣的語言也不相近。在與梁美蘭的互動中，我試圖運用三種語言（國語、台語、英語）與她談天。另外，與沒有台灣身分證的艾蜜莉則用著國語與英語來溝通，我們皆用並不太「標準」的語音交談著，遊走在語言傳遞辭不達意似的細縫上，時而產生會錯意與走音的情況。最後，我再請他們唱一首中文歌，試圖解放原本存在於彼此語言上的無形固有的框架，與異地文化差異的悲情意象。
