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 invitation to present at the Taipei Arts Festival 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. It is combined with multiple video installations with voices from a series of encounters including Drag Queen Mother CoCo & daughter Chanel (from House of CoCo), Hong Kong intersex rights activist 細細老師 and Gender fluid advocate 羅小風, 卓秀如 consultant from a DNA testing clinic, Amis Indigenous parents 陳福財, 陳良妹,莊淑英, 董光燦, a Father carrying Mothering activity, Transgender father Crystal, Queer mum 張天妹 and daughter 梁湘華, Deis - an Indonesian Chinese married into the Amis tribe, Tianan Temple

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 of Bar NINE 席耶娜, Dr. WuWu, a pregnancy health advocate, Austin Wang, former Artistic Director of Taipei Performing Arts Center, a traditional Taiwanese opera Master 許亞芬, a young animal communicator and host of the self-healing podcast盧崇璞, Hong Kong choreographer 梅卓燕Mui Cheuk-yin, and Madeleine Planesgok, curator of the Anticipations Museum at the Lafayette Foundation 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, attend birthday celebrations, and engage in 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.