Departure

2004/2006
48 minute single- channel video and 3 - channel video installation, headphones and parabolic speakers.

Departure is a video essay that looks at the impact of modernization and foreign intervention through different modes of transportation. Shot from the exploratory perspective of a moving car, cycle, and trains, the video travels through three former colonial Asian cities: Taipei, Shanghai, and Hanoi. The transformation of a road, a bridge, and railways, shows an evolution of different powers marked by the promise of progress made by former occupiers and current builders.

In recognition of language hierarchies and the politics of translation, five women narrate the interrelated histories of these transforming urban environments in their native languages: Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, English, Shanghainese, and Vietnamese.