“It could be me who died.”

--------------------------------------------

“Last Seen” consists of reprographic copies of surveillance images and the destroyed images of ordinary places. In this series of works, I intend to not only manifest the violence and unequal power in gender, but also capture the situation of women behind sex and violence, and the shadow of death one should face in the existing states.

Those surveillance images present “the last images” of the female victims in crimes of passion during the past ten years in Taiwan. The video surveillance system was set up to ensure security and to prevent crime in society; meanwhile, it also records the whole course before the deadly incident. Through making reprography of the surveillance images, this work aims to discuss the viewers’ understanding and imagination of violence and tragedy within the social structure and the media narrative framework.
In another part of the work, I photographed the safety alert places that issued by the Police. For the female, these places are threats to personal security. Then, I applied the methods used in actual sexual crimes to the images, such as slashing, gun-shooting, and strangling. These acts of violence were made to undeveloped 4x5 films in complete darkness. The invisible violence and wound became visible through the process of developing afterwards. The color of the chemicals changed after soaking the films, and the damaged films reveal the stains and breaches after the development. It is like turning on the investigation light, and everything could be seen at a glance.

Deserted underpasses, a parking lot, and women who are forced to lose their lives -- this is the invisible history of pain in women that mingles the violence of reality and departing lives.