Wu Jiaru's The Death of Lao She (2017) is on view at Para Site, as part of the group exhibition Kotodama.
Cultures underpinned by various languages think about and describe the world slightly differently from one another. Kotodama is a unique Japanese belief that words can magically affect objects, carrying and enacting the speaker’s will in their curses or blessings. Speech alone would therefore have the power to change the fate of another person. Language is more than just a means of communication; it also carries culture, preserves memories, transmits wisdom, and forms part of many communities’ identities. Yet, a large number of languages today are withering, owing to the cultural hegemony of another language, outright political oppression, socio-economic factors, or a combination of the above.
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The details surrounding the death of Chinese novelist and dramatist Lao She (b.1899, d. 1966, Beijing, China) still remain unclear. According to some testimonies, during the Cultural Revolution, he was held at Guozijian, Imperial College of Beijing, and after enduring prosecution and torture, was found dead in a nearby lake supposedly having committed suicide.
Wu Jiaru borrows existing textual documentation surrounding Lao She's persecution and death. She dissects statements made by Lao She's family and friends, and places them onto the audio belt of a 16mm film strip, ultimately transforming written text into sound. The sounds are accompanied by hand-drawn scenes, covered in blue paint and pieces of the artist's hair, in an act of memorialising Lao She's death.
The Death of Lao She (2017)
Hand-drawn 16mm film, projector, hair, printed text
1'24”
Text and images courtesy of Para Site.
Learn more –
https://www.para-site.art/exhibitions/kotodama/
