2. ABOUT
Laiwan is an artist, writer and educator recognized for her interdisciplinary
practice based in poetics, improvisation and philosophy. Born in
Zimbabwe of Chinese parents, she immigrated to Canada in 1977 to leave
the war in Rhodesia. She teaches in the MFA Interdisciplinary Arts Program
at Goddard College in Washington State, is current Chair of the Board of
Directors at grunt gallery, and she lives in Vancouver, Canada.
3.
4. Movement for 2 Grannies,
10 second video installed at the Canada Line SkyTrain, July 2011
5. A yearlong series of commissioned works featured on the Canada Line
video screens.
6. Movement For Two Grannies is an elegant and ethereal work of cinematography
that features two Chinese grannies engaged in a moment of intimate and affec-
tionate friendship. Shot on green screen, the backlit grannies are placed against
a shimmering flow – oceanic, vast and expansive, rippling with an ancient lineage.
The scene is surreal, sensual and serene — the slow movements of the grannies
are in sharp contrast to the function of Light Rapid Transit systems designed
to move commuters efficiently, spaces not user-friendly for our grannies. Here,
Laiwan proposes an endearing rendition of a 10-second action movie, unhurried
and cherished.
7. “For the 125th birthday of Vancouver, I celebrate my elders with ‘Movement
For Two Grannies’. With tenacity, endurance, resilience and humour they move
forward passing on values and ethics, rituals and philosophies, through daily
movements that ripple out beyond Vancouver. Their legacy and lineage are the
foundations of a strong, vibrant cultural community in Chinatown. Dedicated to
the spirit and life of my grandmother and all grandmothers for their everyday
endurance and persistence despite our cultural and social neglect of elders”
(Laiwan, 2011).
