It is impressive to recognize how some artists become fluent in and even translate and incorporate distinct and faraway languages of the visual arts so quickly and respectfully within a short time into their work. And, they accomplish the utmost sensitivity to embody the original meaning of a particular visual art language in translated forms through their artworks. In the right hands, the artist achieves a commendable balance of cultural appropriation and synergy that undeniably preserves the pristine intentions and articulations of the original creative language while suggesting a fresh new root of a creative language.
Such has been the case in Lu Wei: Entering Into the Serpent, a show currently at the Ogden Contemporary Arts (OCA) as well as her earlier show Ink Shadows at Material Gallery in Salt Lake City.
Less than two years ago, Lu had her first solo show in the U.S. at Material. As The Utah Review noted at the time, “Quickly, the viewer is drawn to how the Taiwanese artist exquisitely explores the vicissitudes of time and space in the female gaze. She captures with gentle elegance in warm hues the boundary layers between history and myth, along with the counterpoint of reality and imagination which propel a woman’s lived experiences.“
In the intervening period, Lu has explored in depth the Mestiza consciousness of Mexico and the American southwest. The results are evident in her latest two shows in Utah. Notably, her OCA show is most ambitious in its flourishing world of expression, which includes ink paintings as well as her first installation video piece.
Lu feels comfortable in these multiple worlds. In fact, she has augmented her direct exploration of this Mestiza consciousness with the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa, who has extensively described and documented the concepts of Coatlicue State and la facultad. An Aztec legend, the goddess Coatlicue embodies the roles of creator, destroyer and the mother of mortal individuals and gods. Lu finds her psychic bridge between the East and the Mestiza, as evident in her work. As Anzaldúa explained, “We need Coatlicue to slow us up so that the psyche can assimilate previous experiences and process the changes.” She added, “Our greatest disappointments and painful experiences – if we can make meaning out of them – can lead us toward becoming more of who we are. Or they can remain meaningless. The Coatlicue state can be a way station or it can be a way of life.” This comprehension pervades every piece in Entering into the Serpent. Lu finds the universal nexus of feminist sisterhood.
Fully cognizant of how her fellow female artists in Taiwan have contended not just with traditional male-centered ideologies but also the country’s own colonial past which demeaned women, Lu initially studied the works of French feminists — such as Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva. These writers became prominent for explaining that maternity and pregnancy hold the keys to female empowerment, a conclusion which challenged previous thinking that suggested women were marginalized or fetishized through the male gaze when it came to pregnancy and motherhood.
During her time in the U.S., Lu found the natural extension of her intellectual exploration in the writings of Anzaldúa. The parallels are unmistakable, as Anzaldúa, with Mestiza consciousness, outlines the process of confronting oppression and suppression in order to be empowered and resilient while finding clarity in their own identity and consciousness. Thus, the concept of la facultad guides Lu to appreciate and inculcate Anzaldúa’s earnest belief that there are no superior or dominant cultures. That becomes possible because of la facultad, which Anzaldúa describes as “an instant ‘sensing,’ a quick perception arrived at without conscious reasoning. It is an acute awareness mediated by the part of the psyche that does not speak, that communicates in images and symbols which are the faces of feelings, that is, behind which feelings reside/hide. The one possessing this sensitivity is excruciatingly alive to the world.”
Lu’s astute understanding of these concepts is evident in her personal life, as expressed through the astounding collection of works at OCA and the examples earlier exhibited at Material, which functioned as successful proofs of concept for expanding her artistic language. Lu has become sufficiently fluent in Anzaldúa’s expression of Mestiza consciousness to be able to translate it effectively and appropriately into her own artwork. These exhibitions have constituted a unique phase in articulating new stories as artifacts of a new culture to be explored in the cosmological realm of the visual arts.
Entering into the Serpent successfully emulates the notion of culturelessness which is incumbent in the feminist challenge to collective dominating cultural beliefs. But, Lu also follows through Anzaldúa’’s process, which the author explains, accordingly: “[Y]et I am cultured because I am participating in the creation of yet another culture, a new story to explain the world and our participation in it, a new value system with images and symbols that connect us to each other and to the planet.” Lu’s creative manifestation is a paragon of this process.
Entering into the Serpent is curated by Material and made possible in part by the support of the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan and the Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation. Major funding for this exhibition is also provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Utah Division of Arts & Museums, George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Ogden Arts, Rocky Mountain Power and the Utah Office of Tourism.
The OCA show continues through July 13. For more information, see the Ogden Contemporary Arts website.