COLLECTIONS

Castle, Valley, Anonymous Island and Their Return to the Moon

Edition 1/5+AP

Malaysia
Au Sow-Yee

Castle, Valley, Anonymous Island and Their Return to the Moon, 2017, Single channel video, 13 min 52 sec
All images courtesy of the artist

Jim disappeared into the forest
on 26th March 1967.
Inside his room in the Moonlight Villa,
a bomoh found a script written with invisible ink,
a book with sketches,
some secret coordinates,
plans to go to outer space,
and some mysterious sculptures
imbued with inaudible spell.

Jim disappeared into the forest on 26 March 1967. Inside his room in the Moonlight Villa, a bomoh (Shaman in Malay language) found a script written with invisible ink, a book with sketches, some secret coordinates, plans to go to outer space, and mysterious sculptures imbued with inaudible spells. 

(notes: Jim is a reference to Jim Thompson, an American Silk Tycoon based in Thailand in his later life. Jim Thompson disappeared when he was taking a stroll at Cameron Highland, Peninsula Malaysia in 1967. His life or death remains a mystery till today.)

About the Artist

Au Sow-Yee (1978 born in Malaysia)
Born in Malaysia, she now lives and works in Taipei. AU’s works focus mainly in questioning, exploring as well as expanding the relation between images, image making, history, politics and power, through video installation and other mediums. Sow-Yee’s recent works focus on re-imagined history of Malaysia, South-east Asia and it’s related region from perceptions and ideologies bounded by the Cold War. A finalist for the 2018 Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize and Han Nefkens Foundation - Loop Barcelona Video Art Award 2018, Sow-Yee’s works were exhibited in MMCA (Seoul), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), HKW (Berlin), Shanghai Rockbund Art Museum, Singapore Film Festival among others. Sow-Yee is a guest writer for online magazine No Man’s Land and co-founded Kuala Lumpur’s Rumah Attap Library and Collective in 2017.

Master of Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, U.S.A
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Department of Drama in Film and Theatre Section, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan

Selected Awards:
2020
 Finalist, Taishin Art Award (for STILL ALIVE: Au Sow Yee Solo Exhibition)
2018
 Shorlisted, Han Nefkens Foundation – LOOP BCN Video Art Award
 Finalist, Asia Pacific Breweries Signature Art Prize
2017
 Finalist, Sovereign Asian Art Prize
2016
 Finalist, Taishin Art Award (for Live Cinema: Mountain Plague 山瘟)
 2014 Krishen Jit Astro Fund Outstanding New Media Arts Award
 (Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan)
 Nominated, the 12th Taoyuan Contemporary Art Award

Editor: Aura Contemporary Art Foundation