Relict
2021
Full HD video, 8”30
Map installation: printed map, eraser, cinnabar color, jar, spice
130*100*100cm
Relict is a project consisted of three elements: a short film, a map installation, and a set of eraser stamps.
In biology, a relict species is a population cut off from the whole, who usually develops its own biological features and a unique way of survival, adapted to its environment. From Chia’s life experience as a Taiwanese living in France, there are two groups of “relict species” that touches her the most: immigrants with Chinese origins in France (in Paris Chinatown in particular) and a group of landlocked salmon (Oncorhynchus masou formosanus) living in a mountain creek in the middle of Taiwan. She sees lots of qualities in common between the two groups: loss of connection with its origin, forced adaptation by the environment, nostalgia to the past, and of course, the hope of continuing thriving.
The short film is shot in France and in Taiwan. With a naturalist shooting, layers of images and a docufiction style narration, the film tells the story of immigrated human and immigrated fish. Where are we from and where are we going? If time and space were not linear, could we easily travel to the other end of the world?
The map is a montage of historical maps from related region/era mentioned in the film: map of Taiwan where/when the salmon was discovered, map of Taiwan during the immigration wave from China, map of Vietnam during the immigration wave from China, map of Vietnam by American army during Vietnam war, map of China by a Portuguese missionary, map of France today where the immigrants live…
The eraser stamp set is made to mark the trace of movement of human and fish, respectively. Eraser stamps are easy to make, and they do not stand in time; but the cinnabar color, often seen as stamps on Chinese paintings, can stay vivid for up to hundreds of years. Both human and fish are perishable, but the influences of their activity will last.