Theresa Hak Kung Cha

Permutations, 1976, 11:40 minutes

Frames of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's sister punctuate this structuralist film: her face with eyes open, gaze locked with the viewer; her face with eyes closed, denying the gaze; the back of her head, showing only her long black hair in contrast with the white background. Through the accelerated repetition of frames, there is a hint of suspense. Watch closely, the artist features herself in a single frame. This dynamic nods to the interconnected relationships between Asian American women, the solidarity in shared characteristics and how we are perceived as the other.  

 

車學慶 | Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982) |《排列組合——Permutations》, 1976 年作，時長 11:40 分鐘

車學慶姐妹的畫面點綴了這部結構主義電影：她的容顏睜著眼睛，凝視著觀眾；她的容顏閉上雙目，拒絕注視；她的後腦勺，只露出一頭黑色長髮，與白色背景形成鮮明對比。通過圖幀的加速重複，出現一絲懸念。經仔細觀察，藝術家將自己描繪在一個畫面中。如是動態，體現了亞裔美國女性之間相互關聯的關係、共同特徵的團結，以及，我們是怎樣被視為他人的。

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About Theresa Hak Kung Cha

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982) was an American artist and writer, born in South Korea during the Korean War. Her family immigrated to the United States in 1962. Cha earned her BA and MA in comparative literature and her BA and MFA in art from the University of California, Berkeley. Her work incorporates multiple perspectives of culture, history, and artistic media, culminating as performance pieces, films, concrete poetry, and artists’ books. Permutations (1976) is a structuralist film in which images of the artist’s sister, and the artist herself flash in black-and-white frames, commenting on women’s visibility, anonymity, and absence. One week after the publication of her book Dictée, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was murdered in New York City at the age of 31. Despite her unfortunate and early death, Cha’s collection of films, writings, and visual art is substantial, and is housed at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. 

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車學慶 | Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982) 是美籍藝術家兼作家，朝鮮戰爭期間出生於韓國。1962年隨家人移民美國。車學慶獲加州大學伯克利分校比較文學學士與碩士學位，以及藝術學士與碩士學位。她的作品融合文化、歷史以及藝術媒體的多樣視角，形成表演、電影、具體詩歌以及其藝術書籍著作等作品。《排列組合》(Permutations, 1976年作) 是一部結構主義電影，其中藝術家姐妹與藝術家本人的圖像在黑白畫面中閃現，對女性的可見性、匿名性及缺席不在場等特性予以評論。車學慶在她的著作《Dictée》出版一周後在紐約市被謀殺，時年31歲。儘管不幸早逝，她的電影、著作及視覺藝術系列作品卻非常豐富，且已被加州大學伯克利分校藝術博物館與太平洋電影文獻庫所收藏。