Because Watching Pacifies

On the journey to depict "borders," I filmed two KMT military dependents' villages, both established for surveillance purposes. One was located in the mountainous region traversed by Taiwan's Central Cross-Island Highway, and the other in the highlands that border Thai-Myan-Laos. Following the Chinese Civil War, these villages were established in conflict zones along ethnic frontiers. Military personnel, along with their dependents, were stationed in these elevated terrains to monitor the surrounding mountains and to pacifies fears of potential rebellion in these border regions.

Despite never having been colonized by the West, Thailand has been mired in the post-WWII global Cold War framework. Cold War-era alliances connected Taiwan and Thailand, facilitating the transfer of agricultural techniques and replicating landscapes between the two. From that point forward, borders that were once ambiguous became clearly defined, and movement across them was labeled as "illegal" or "transgressive." The woman on the swing oscillates between these national borders. In this new order, her corporeal displacement is suspended in an eternal liminal space, continuing her life story as a transgressor. Through her voice, she creates a reflective passage to her displaced sisters. The orders of these two worlds, though strikingly similar, are deeply disparate.

The woman on the swing oscillates between national borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Lao. In this new order, her corporeal displacement is suspended in an eternal liminal space, continuing her life story as a transgressor. Through her voice, she creates a reflective passage to her displaced sisters. The orders of these two worlds, though strikingly similar, are deeply disparate.