America, Sadako, Me



To most Asians, America is a term which could not be more familiar. When I was growing up in Taiwan, the term represented a valuation, fashion and absolute power. It was not until I began my studies in this country that I realized how awkward and strange it is for me to fit into this environment. Most Americans have already been exposed to a mix of different cultures, whether they like it or not. For a foreigner like me, coming from a culturally homogeneous country to America was a complete shock. I thought I might have some idea of the environment before I came here, but actually I knew nothing.

That is where the figure of Sadako comes in. Sadako is a ghost character from the classic Japanese horror movie “Ringu (1998)”. Her posture is that of a hanged woman with longhair. According to an old saying, the ghost would linger around certain places because of unfinished business. Once in a while Sadako appears in family albums or snap shots randomly taken on the street. In Asian culture, this is a bad omen, bringing sickness, disaster, and sometimes death to the inhabitants of the photographs. When that happens, people are taught to ignore the figures' appearance and hide the picture.

In this project, I am using Sadako as a metaphor to interpret the strangeness, loneliness and ignorance of the American environment. In producing the photographs, I randomly break into peoples activity on the street, just l as I broke into the culture when I came here. In a repetition of much of my own daily experience, the figure is irrelevant to the place it stands and the people it is pictured with.

To American viewer, these images seem both absurd and exotic. The allegory behind the figure is completely lost, only the viewers' ignorance left. To an outsider, the images suggest a broken cultural icon, forever lingering in a world in which it does not belong.