Chen-Hsi Wong
In the Shadow of Trees
2015
C-print on metallic paper, diasec-mounted on Plexi panel
Diptych, 127 x 49cm (61 x 49cm each)
In the Shadow of Trees marks filmmaker Chen-Hsi Wong’s early foray into photographic work. This diptych is one in a series of four, in which Wong creates compositions of jungle textures that she describes as “simple pictorial landscapes, without performance, decoration or narrative.” The four diptychs were first shown together at Wong’s solo exhibition by the same title, In the Shadow of Trees (2015), at the independent art space DECK in Singapore.
In this work, Wong explores her interests in the environment, natural form and (in)habitated spaces. The idea for In the Shadow of Trees came about after Wong’s first shoot in the jungle of Bukit Timah, Singapore, while making the film Innocents (2012). As she explained, “When I was editing the film on uncoloured dailies, I noticed there was an extreme wide shot of two actors talking. I was sitting beneath a large tree watching their performance. In the final coloured film, you cannot see me because I’m in the shadows. In the uncoloured dailies for editing, there is no colour information, so I could see myself in the frame. I liked that I was not part of the story, but yet existing within the film. I liked the idea of penetrating space. It seemed appropriate to explore that idea in the jungle.”
In the Shadow of Trees was shot three years later in the ancient Cambodian town of Siem Reap, famous for the Angkor Wat and other ancient temple complexes that thread through its jungle outskirts. In these photographic prints, Wong transposed various cinematic techniques to the still frame, inscribing the old trees — which she described as “actors in their own stage, inhabited and inhabiting” — into a complex tableau of light and colour. The changing tropical light that transforms these junglescapes is captured in a still shot, creating a mysterious world that invites the audience in.
Image ©Chen-Hsi Wong
Chen-Hsi Wong is a filmmaker and educator. Her debut feature film Innocents (2012) won multiple awards at major international film festivals, including Best Director (New Talents) at the Shanghai International Film Festival and Best Screenplay at the Ourense International Film Festival. Her short films include the award-winning Who Loves the Sun (2006) and Conversations on Sago Lane (2010). Wong’s films have screened in the international film festivals in Shanghai, Rome, Jeonju, Rio de Janeiro, Clermont-Ferrand, and important venues such as the Anthology Film Archives in New York, La Cinémathèque Française in Paris, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles.
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