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Huai Mo Village
2012
BY
HSU Chia-Wei
Huai Mo Village
2012
single-channel-video
08'20''
Huai Mo Village
2012
single-channel-video
08'20''
Huai Mo Village
2012
single-channel-video
08'20''
Huai Mo Village
2012
single-channel-video
08'20''
Huai Mo Village
2012
single-channel-video
08'20''
Huai Mo Village
2012
01 / 10

Hsu Chia Wei creates videos and installations to build sensitive visual narratives about geographical, historical and cultural regions in Asia. The artist reveals how the lives of people in the modern age are fundamentally transformed by the dense and complex layers of cultures and histories.

Huei-Mo Village relates the story of remnant troops on the border regions of Thailand and Burma who face the intersection of multiple cultural identities and an unrecognised identity. People who live under the spectre of history end up producing an ambiguity absent in ordinary people. HSU Chia Wei’s latest project focuses on the Huai Mo Tzu Chiang House in Chiang Rai, Thailand, which shelters a generation of orphans owning close relationships to the region’s complex history. In 1949, the Chinese civil war broke out. The defeat of the KMT resulted in the perilous retreat of an army, originally belonging to the Nationalist government, from Yunnan to Myanmar, with only 2,000 among 20 million soldiers reaching the destination in the end. However, Myanmar and the Soviet Union accused the troop for having “invaded” their territory, whereupon the United Nations later on arranged for the troop to settle at the Golden Triangle at the Thai-Myanmar border and Chiang Rai, Mae Salong by making a pact with the Thai government. Due to pressure from the United Nations, Chiang Kai-shek instructed the troop to retreat to Taiwan, but in truth ordered them to Retreat on the surface, but factually remain undercover. In semblance, the troop seemed to have disbanded, but in secret they remained in a state of combat preparing for their counterattack. The Lost Army consisted mainly of soldiers from Yunnan, yet obeyed their given commands and stayed despite their longing for home. Their actions, however, were like declarations to the world that the “local soldiers” will no longer intervene, and have severed all ties with the government of the Republic of China.

In 1970, in order to sustain themselves in foreign lands and to exchange for the right to abode, the lost troop answered the request of the Thai military in assisting their expedition against the Thai communists, which then determined their prolonged stay as mercenaries in northern Thailand. Later on, they were also involved in battles against Burma communists in 1978 and Miao communists in 1981. During this period, many people grew poppies to increase their incomes for a better domestic life, or assisted drug dealers to traffc drugs from Myanmar. The drug production in this region used to account for 80% of the global supply, determining its status as the international drug trade center at the time. The orphanage at Huai Mo Village houses 68 children; most of their parents were sentenced to death for drug trade or had died during drug-related disputes.

In the video, the director of the orphanage (who was once an intelligence officer) points out the historical origins and changes. The artist’s customary style is extended in this work—the people telling the stories, the people hearing the stories, the crew made up of orphans, with the artist standing furthest back, observing it all.

ARTISTS
7 artworks / 169 exhibition
Video Art
Hsu Chia-Wei's creative method is a specific kind of “Narrative” -- a way of documenting that interferes with the text in reality, by focusing on site specific and peculiar characteristics, such as memory, imagination, or identification. He ...
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KEYWORDS
HSU Chia-Wei, 2013, Video Art
HSU Chia-Wei, 2013, Video Art
HSU Chia-Wei, 2009, Video Art
HSU Chia-Wei, 2009, Video Art
HSU Chia-Wei, 2008, Video Art
HSU Chia-Wei, 2012, Video Art