Su Misu
Taiwanese photographer Su Misu is known for exploring gender, BDSM and LGBTQ+ topics. Coming from a medical background, she’s interested in the “Synthetic”, the “Unnatural”, and other embodiments, using photography to discuss the struggle between the real and the illusory. Her work draws from Lacan’s psychoanalytic concept of the mirror stage, which is where a subject becomes alienated from itself and is introduced into an imaginary order. Despite her young age, Su’s photographic work is one of the highlights of our presentation due to her unique approach and skill in style and composition.
Chi-Wen Gallery has delighted to announce Su Misu’s first solo-exhibition at the gallery “I am a fake but my heart is true, Part II” in 2019.
Living and working in Taipei, Su Misu is a multi-disciplinary artist who first gained recognition through the self-publication of her photo-book “ihategoodbye” (2016). That same year she created the video installation “I am a fake but my heart is true” (2016) and followed this up recently with her latest work “I am a fake but my heart is true, Part II” (2018), a 4-channel video installation that has be shown in our gallery for the very first time. Photographic and video works of all three projects has been on show in the exhibition.
Born in 1990 in Taipei, Taiwanese photographer and performance artist Su Misu is known for her practice in exploration of gender, BDSM and LGBT topics. Coming from a medical background, she’s interested in “the synthetic”, “the unnatural”, and other embodiments, using photography, video and performance to discuss the struggle between what is real and what is illusory.
Su Misu
ihategoodbye, 2016
Su Misu (b. 1990) currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan.
Natural light on 135mm negative, revealing clothes or nudity, no resplendent accessories affixed. Models gaze right through Su’s camera lens with a calm demeanor, as if there is nothing left to manifest. ihategoodbye is more of a “Watashi-Shashin” project: Photo shooting in a relatively casual manner, documenting an authentic lifestyle, nothing pretentious. Nevertheless, these portraits reveal what Su cherishes the most during the execution of her project: mutual respect. Though being dear friends already, Su said that she still tends to prevent any discomfort from happening between her model and herself while shooting photos, which can be an abusive experience.
Su Misu
I am a fake but my heart is true, 2016
Inkjet Print on Canson Baryta Prestige, 40 x 27cm Each
Su Misu (b. 1990) currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan.
Intersectionality in gender identities is one crucial topic widely discussed by activists and academics. For Taiwanese artist Su Misu, there is a divine figure that provides the best representation of the notion: Bodhisattva. One can find Bodhisattva as a major motif in culture production throughout art history in Asia. The sexual character of this goddess of mercy is often depicted as neuter, genderless, or variable. Su adopted the renewal of enchantment as her strategy in staged photography, which made this project a modern allegory. Bright neon colors on traditional Taiwanese opera stage elements such as dragons and lotuses, indicate that the portraits at the center would naturally become avatars, the incarnations of the deity.
Su Misu
I am a fake but my heart is true, Part II, 2018
Inkjet Print on Canson Baryta Prestige, 100 x 150 cm Each
Su Misu (b. 1990) currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan.
“I am a fake, but my heart is true, Part II” is a criticism of the vast objectification of the human body in modern society. The images depict futuristic doll-like mannequins represented by actual living human models, lying in despair on a pile of used cardboard boxes and other worn-out corrugated sheets and recyclable materials. Because anything that exists fades eventually, Su Misu poses a question about exploitation and abandonment.
Su Misu
I am a fake but my heart is true, Part II, 2018
Four-channel Video Installations, Colour, Silence, 2’00” Each
Video link: https://vimeo.com/user20644139/review/427640892/701d7df1a8
Password:chiwensm
Mapping video, Project on six acrylic panels, Loop, Colour, Silence, 4’00″
Video link: https://vimeo.com/user20644139/review/427640222/7da61b97fa
Password:chiwensm
Su Misu
Lilith, 2019
Live Performance, 16 January at Chi-Wen Gallery
Video link: https://vimeo.com/user20644139/review/427643550/81bfb2924f
Password:chiwensm
Lilith was the first wife of Adam, created by God from the earth. Lilith was not satisfied with her sex life with Adam and went to hell to become Satan’s lover.
Lilith is also the stage name of Su Misu in adult entertainment industry. In her performance, “I am a fake but my heart is true, Part II”, Su Misu invites Soa, who also works in the sex industry, to act as a “good inflatable doll”. As such Su Misu tries to transform a human being into an artificial object.
Su Misu
Build a House, 2020
Live Performance with Audience Participation, 18 January 2020 at Chi-Wen Gallery
Video link: https://vimeo.com/user20644139/review/427641552/74178c1c21
Password:chiwensm
For one day only, Su Misu invites volunteers to participate in her new project “Build a House”, a performance that extends from her existing art practice that touches upon the subjects of bondage and LGBTQ+ issues, amongst others. Su Misu and some of her friends act as coaches that direct volunteers to run and wrap the gallery building with ropes. Even under the direction of the coaches, the volunteers however are still allowed to find their own way to twist the ropes around and at the end of the performance, the ropes will form an irregular, huge net. Through this event, the artist would like draw attention on the habits and creativity that are inherent in the volunteers, and, on a macro level, also on the way citizens build a family under Democratic Government control.
“Build a House” is part of the exhibition, “‘Every Man is an Artist’ – Talking About Artists’ Social Engagement.”
SELECTED PRESS
Why gay-friendly Taiwan is a creative haven for LGBTQ art
CNN
July 1, 2020
Su Misu
Wall Street International Magazine
April 26, 2019
Su Misu’s erotic photographs reveal Taiwan’s subversive underbelly
Document Journal
March 29, 2019
Our 5 Favorite Booths At Art Basel Hong Kong
Cultured Mag
March 29, 2019
Su Misu solo-exhibition "I am a fake but my heart is true, Part II"
(Review in Mandarin Chinese)
ARTCO Art & Collection
Febuary, 2019
"Mulan, Make Up!" Taiwan Contemporary Queer Art Exhibition opens in Westwood
Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles
Febuary 16, 2019
Taipei Dangdai Lowdown: Shows to See
Ocula
January 11, 2019