10 Questions with Feng Jiang

江峰 Jiang Feng is a non-gendered and multi-disciplinary artist working across-genres in movement/dance, theatre, performance art, voice, text, modeling, film, photography, and theory. He attained her B.A. in English and Chinese literature from National Taiwan University in 2016. In 2019, they graduated with an M.F.A. degree in Performance and Performance Studies from Pratt Institute. They are the receiver of the R.O.C. Government Fellowship to study and research dance abroad and “Grants for 20-40-Year-Old Writers” from Ministry of Culture in Taiwan. In September 2019, her new work "臺彎 Bent-Tai(www)" won the "Genuinely Fringe" award, the third prize, in Taipei Fringe Festival.

His performance works have been presented at various venues, including Itinerant Performance Art Festival, Movement Research at the Judson Church, "Thinking Its Presence" conference hosted by the University of Arizona, Exponential Festival, Dance Research Forum Ireland, HOT! Festival at Dixon Place, New Work Series at Tada! Theater, Gibney Dance, La MaMa Galleria, Waxworks at Triskelion Arts, BAAD!, Hudson Guild Theater, and Odyssey Dance Theater in Singapore. Furthermore, their works have been shown in Germany, Bulgaria, and Hungary in various artistic scenarios. In Taiwan, she has worked with emerging choreographers Shiou Fen Li and KoYang Chang, and has performed at the National Theater and Concert Hall, NTU Center for the Arts, Nadou Theatre, Treasure Hill, Venue, amongst other venues.

In 2018, they were selected to be the performer of the work “Wall-Floor Positions” in the MoMA retrospective "Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts."

www.jiangfeng-mine.com | @jiangfeng_mine

U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter)「美」國 | 江峰 Jiang Feng©

ARTIST STATEMENT

The fundamental inspiration for my work is love, its beauty, and complexity, while thematically, my work revolves around questions of gender, sexuality, sex, and race. Further, as an interdisciplinary artist, I turn to the tools offered by multiple media to enrich and deepen my works. I create artwork as a process for healing and questioning. Setting out to disrupt, I always want to create something different from what people have seen before by challenging social norms and our perceptions of them. I am trying to gather energy to create a healing space for people who endure discrimination.

My process as an artist and creator is that I always wait to be inspired in/by life. I am always looking for new and innovative elements. Moreover, I draw on theory from academic and non-academic works and think hard because I expect myself to be not only an artist but also a thinker.

The ideology of my works is "Family-unfriendly."

U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter)「美」國

This series juxtaposes the torn and dirty USian flag with the naked bodies of all genders, races, sexuality, nationality, and cultural backgrounds. I am interested in critiquing the United States as the dreamland and shelter for people and immigrants. The U.S. was alleged to be the most open and tolerant country but it fails to welcome people from various backgrounds equally. This series aims to document and capture people's bodies, their vulnerability, emotions, and strength through/with the cut USian flag. Everyone was invited to join the project because most of the people are immigrants in some ways at some point in history in the country even if they're citizens now. Moreover, I am interested in the body, not some mainstream beauty. I encourage people all to model nude because I am not interested in censoring any specific body parts. Also, if they are part of the body, they deserve to be seen/there. Producer｜Cindy Trinh

In your youth, when did you realize that you were going to become an artist?

As I grew up, I had many dreams, a writer in my junior high and a singer in my senior high. However, I did not want to become an "artist" (or realize that can be a thing) until the 5th year of my undergrad. By then, I had been dancing for only five years and fell in love with it and performing arts and theater. In that 5th year, I told myself, maybe I should spend my life on something I really love. Since so many people never really know what that is, I should be grateful that I knew it at that age. That was when I was 23. Yet, realizing what an artist is and how they should live their life was what I learned during my three years in New York, and certainly, that was when I embark on the road of being an artist.

You are the author of the project U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter). Please tell us about the intentions behind it.

The project was a farewell gift for myself before I left New York City when I finished my M.F.A. at Pratt Institute in 2019. I went to NYC with my "USian (American) Dream," which was mostly fabricated by my love for "Sex and the City" and soon disillusioned after my arrival there. I experienced much racial discrimination and discomfort, which was ultimately why I left the country. I once said, "Compared with staying in the U.S. and be an Asian, I'd rather go back to Taiwan and be a human." That was how much I thought my life was being drained by the country, which many Asians, especially Taiwanese people, did not sense, or say, did not want to recognize (because they still held onto their USian dreams). At that time, I got chosen for the program "Artists Elevating Immigrant Narratives" by the Creators Collective and decided to initiate the project. By this project, I would like to invite participants to freely express their feelings and relationship with this torn USian flag.

What do you see as the strengths of your project, visually or conceptually?

Modeling has been one of my mediums. In the art community, few people would state that modeling is their artistic medium as far as what I have seen. It is primarily because modeling is seen as a very commercial, capitalized, and hence, instrumentalized behavior. Models are mostly tools for photographers and the system. However, I see agency and power in modeling, which is how people can connect with their own bodies and express messages through/with them. My practice of performance art very much influences this concept. When I am shooting the models, I did not control them. Instead, I facilitated them to feel their bodies and their relationship with the object, the torn flag. To me, authenticity is more than important in modeling but also very lacking in most. All the facial and bodily expressions were naturally given off by the performers on the spot, which were precious and never to be copied. This is the most touching part for me.

Moreover, when I was conceptualizing, I wanted everything to be simple, just a torn flag and the body. I think simplicity brings out strength. The protagonist was not me but all the participants and their true reactions to the flag, including everything they hold with it.

Can you tell our readers what experience of your life is reflected in your works of art?

My art is always directly from/about my own experiences. Usually, my works started from an incident, an image, or a feeling aroused by experiences. I think art must be directly related to life because I heal myself. "U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter) 「美」國" was to heal my wounds from the racial injustice. Other than that, many of my works are centered on sexuality and the body, which I believe are the two cornerstones in life. When art is completely devoid of real experiences, it can easily be boring and cold. In this project, even, sexuality is there as well. I encouraged people to model nude because I believe everybody deserves its beauty and appreciation. In the process of modeling and my own modeling method, which is called the "Non-traditional Modeling Method," I focus on breath and senses tremendously. These are both very prominent in sex and sexuality. They are the simple yet abundant experiences I have and are what rooted me in this life.

What was the creative process for this project, and what did you learn from its production?

The conception was pretty simple. Once I had the image of a torn flag and a body, my intuition told me it was enough. I rely on my intuition a lot because I think the raw and the visceral have the strength that cannot be replaced by reason. The most significant part should be the models' recruitment, but it was rather smooth as well. The setting was elementary. I borrowed a room and the simple lighting equipment from a friend. I just purchased my camera back then and didn't fully understand how it functions, including shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and so on. This was my very first photography series. After I shot the models from the first day, my friend told me that I set the shutter speed at "8000," which made the resolution very low for all the photos. I pretty much was learning while shooting. Besides that, working with models was also very new for me. I have not developed my system back then, but I had some tips for them. Seeing people willing to get naked in front of me and get fully indulged in this setting was absolute magic. It made me realize that maybe I should develop the system and work with people through this new form and way of modeling.

What do you hope that the public takes away from your work?

My goal was to capture what was present. I did not want to add too many complicated and trivial things into the picture. I was more of a collaborator, facilitator, and companion along the way. Hopefully, people will be able to connect or even empathize with the emotions and corporeality the models presented. To me, photography is a beautiful tool to preserve things. Not just to uphold the mainstream visual beauty standard. It should contain depth. For me, that comes from breath and sensation, which I focus on a lot in my modeling practice. Hopefully, the public will be able to sense it. Maybe, try to breathe when you look at the photos and see what changes. My works never force anything onto the audience. I intend to invite and share, experiencing, instead of interpreting. That might change the way we value art and works. Other than that, racial representation was also very crucial in this series. To question, "What/who is USian," might be the notion the audience can breathe while contemplating.

U.S. (Unwholesome Shelter) 「美」國_Feng_Jiang.jpg

You are a multidisciplinary artist. You combine performance and photography. How do you define yourself as an artist?

To me, art to ask about life, and life has no set form. Hence, art should be the tool and medium to set me free. I do not cling to any particular medium other than my body. The body is the base of life and the portal to transcend. That is why no matter what mediums I am using, I try to start from my/the body. I have been practicing three domains: academic research, artistic practice, and somatic/spiritual pursuit. They speak to one another profoundly. Academic research and theory reading of humanities and social science grant me the knowledge of how the world and sociality function. Somatic and spiritual pursuit is a way to transcend all that. Art, or say, a kind of social and relational practice, is the bridge between them. To see the world, what life is about essentially, and find my place in it. Art is the way I liberate my life. If it does not make me a better person in every way, I don't do it. Ultimately, art is not about the products, forms, mediums to me. Art is my sādhanā (a journey of training through the elevation of body, mind, and spirit at the same time).

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future?

Currently, I am focusing on my role as a teacher and facilitator. I have created many unique courses since I got back to Taiwan in 2019. Non-traditional Modeling Method, Somatics for Humans, Sex and Love, So(und)matic Integration, and Hand Narrative. I see clearly how I can evolve as a person and artist in teaching because it is so close to others, in many scenarios, even closer than performances. I am creating more courses because I am also moving forward. Besides that, I am working on a scholarly YouTube channel, a novel, and a concert. I will deepen my freediving techniques and cultivate my own underwater modeling course combined with somatic elements. This year, I am also starting my education brand to invite many special somatic and spiritual educators. A new theater production that combines dance and diving will also happen.

Furthermore, I will probably go back to school to get an M.A. in Dance Studies to pave the way for the Ph.D. In sum, my life sounds crazy a little bit. I want to know what (my) life is and can be about. But most importantly, keep going on my sādhanā. Who knows what else I will be doing this year. The future has no limits.

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