Field Notes: RoadTrip

As part of the M(Other)HOOD project, two mother-artists, accompanied by their young child and life partner and video artist, undertook a research road trip from Taipei to Taitung and Tainan.

Along the way, they interviewed caretakers of Mother Goddess temples, a DNA analyst, a single Amis mother living in the mountains, Indonesian migrant brides, Han-Amis parents, and the husband of a local mamasan. Each encounter added a layer to the evolving archive of mothering—one that spans ritual, biology, migration, and community life in Taiwan.

With the inviation to present in Taipei Arts Festvial Think Bar 2022. 

A three-day, six-hour-long presentation. Artists and their child engage in practices of care, touch, creation and transformation, and through their actions they contemplate time, death, hybridity, queer heritage and the politics of care.

The presentation format spans exhibitions, interviews and live performances, and is combined with multiple video interviews, inviting voices from different backgrounds to participate: including street interviews, the LGBTQI+ community, Drag Queen mother CoCo & Chanel (from House of CoCo), indigenous parents from Taiwan, intersex rights activist Xixi from Hong Kong, Hong Kong gender fluid advocate Luo Xiaofeng and a consultant from a DNA testing clinic.

At the same time, a series of live talks and sharing sessions will be held, inviting participants from across fields to join the dialogue, including: Manasan, host of Bar NINE, Dr. WuWu, a pregnancy health advocate, Wang Mengchao, former artistic director of Taipei Performing Arts Center, Xu Yafen, a traditional Taiwanese opera performer, Lu Chongpu, a young animal communicator and host of the self-healing podcast, and Hong Kong choreographer Mei Zhuoyan, etc., and Madeleine Planesgok, curator of the Anticipations Museum at the Lafayette Foundation in Paris, to jointly expand the space for thinking about "motherhood", "queer experience" and "social structure".

Audiences can come and go freely during the performance, interact with the performers, and watch motherhood practices in action. They can also participate in video archives, join impromptu discussions, birthday celebrations and open activities such as "Healthy Pregnancy 

Listening to the City: Street Interviews in Taipei

As part of our ongoing research, we took to the heart of Taipei — the vibrant streets of Ximending and Taipei Main Station — to ask a simple yet profound question: “What can be a mother to you?” 

The FullMoon Meeting is a monthly online gathering is one of our practices under M(Other)Hood, for thoes who engaged in caregiving and Mothering practices. Aligning with a consistent lunar cycle helps us create a rhythm for continuity and accountability in our collective research.