2020 Whispers of Animism

2020 solo exhibition — Whispers of Animism, Chishang Art Center. © Jam Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist.

The Whisper of Animism ─ Jam Wu’s Exhibition is the artist’s spiritual interpretation, which gazes into the present and also traces remote antiquity. Using papercutting as the central format, a sprawling intricate topology is opened up with recurring silhouettes of human figures, and with humanity placed at the origin of the universe, ancient mental images branch out and flourish. Incorporating handcrafted weaving, reconstructed and deconstructed papercut clumps are pointillized and abstractified. Inspired by the space at the Artchishang Museum, which is a renovated barn house, the museum’s dim room, roof skylight in the exhibition space, and corridor with light penetrating through are taken into consideration to spark a dialogue between papercutting and the environment lighting in the space, with paper’s fibrous texture and documentality highlighted. Taking apart many old books and historical materials, pieces of paper with imprints of time and printed field records are creatively revitalized.

Papercutting: The origin of ancient rituals manifests in hollow cuts of the yin and the yang, in light and shadows; it is a belief that is spiritually cleansing.
Weaving: As the spirit and the hands repeatedly interlace, the silent shift of time is unexpectedly confronted, and a tribal maternal instinct is remotely sensed.

The sun in Chishang points at ancient myths, and with both hands buried underneath warm soil or grains, the essence of humanity is traced through the tangible contact on the skin along with an invisible inner insight. Intuitively, an enigmatic exchange is engaged in between the spirit and the universe.