"Sanctuary" 《避難處》

#2021-1126A

"SANCTUARY" 《避難處》

The 7th Solo Exhibition of Joo Yean Song

 

Jean and I went to the Changhua County Art Museum today for there's an exhibition of installation works there presented by our good friend Ms. Jooyean Song. We both were impressed by what we saw in the dark cave-like room (called "Sanctuary") with an eye-catching campfire in the center.

As the artist Ms. Jooyean herself says, "The cave is the 'home' bestowed by nature in the first place, and it is also a refuge to protect humans from nature's elements such as the harsh wind, rain and scorching sun. This exhibition mainly explores human nature, namely, human contradictory attitudes toward nature. Although human beings have a yearning for natures, they also cause damage to nature. . . ."

She further explains that "the exhibited works use old clothes, urethane foam, and eggshells collected from the breakfast restaurants to present various shapes of stalactites. Old clothes used to protect our bodies, urethane foam can fill the gaps in the house, and eggs are a symbol of resurrection and provide nutrients for life. The caves created by these media will be exhibited in the art museum, and the audience can sit by the campfire and experience the original home."

Personally, I am also interested in the Chinese and English titles of this exhibition. When I compared Sanctuary with 避難處 (Bì'nàn chù), I found the word sanctuary could be defined as these:

1. A sanctuary is a place where people who are in danger from other people can go to be safe; in this sense "sanctuary" is 避難處 or 庇護所 in Chinese. 
2. A sanctuary is a place where birds or animals are protected and allowed to live freely; in this sense it is [鳥類...等] 禁獵區 or 禁獵期 in Chinese. 
3. A sanctuary is a holy place, as a Christian church, or any church or temple, or a particular place within a church or temple (as the part around the altar); in this sense it may be translated as 教堂, 聖殿, 至聖所, or [教堂之] 內殿, etc.

It is quite surprising or amazing that the same English word means different things -- from 避難處 to 禁獵區 to 至聖所, 神殿 and 禮拜堂; all of these (which sound so different to me, a Taiwanese) can be a "sanctuary," just as the word "rice" can be either 稻 or 秧 (稻之幼苗) or 穀 or 米 or 飯 or 粥 (稀飯).

Honestly, when I first saw the title (or theme?) of Ms. Jooyean's exhibition -- Sanctuary, my first thought was nothing but "Holy Place"; I'd never connected it with "Refuge" before.

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相關文章 (See also)： FEAST (吉田敦 ● 宋周妍 雙個展)     (2018)