By Xiaoyu XIONG (Sherry). 2021
Hui’an women are a group of women who have attracted social attention due to their unique costumes, wedding customs and frequent collective suicides. In terms of geography, “Hui’an women” refers to the females who live in Huidong of Fujian, mainly distributed in Chongwu, Shanxia, Jingfing and Xiaozuo villages. But in terms of history, their figure is always changing with politics statements of the states. During the Maoist decades, the standard of Hui’an women was defined as feudal, backward, and oppressive in local society, which should be eradicated in order to forge a new socialist order. (Friedman, 2006). In detailed, dressing all in black, wearing headpiece with blue background and white dots like this traditional clothings were not recommend, the custom of early marriage and married women staying in their natal home was outlawed, and unproductive labour like housewife was not allowed. With the reform and opening up, by contrast, Friedman believe that the image of Hui’an woman has defined around the feminization and commodification of ethnicity in market economy, and new standards of civilization and culture promoted by state-sponsored “socialist spiritual civilization”campaigns (2006:17). For instance, tourism entrepreneurs Zeng Meixia runs a “hui’an woman style garden”, which provides a range of entertainment services such as take photos, food and beverage service by young females who are wearing “Hui’an woman” style clothings. Until today, in the times of Xi, liberation and open consciousness was replaced by the labels of thrift, hard-working and beautiful, they are portrayed as models of perfect women. Although there are so many forms of difference, like ethnic, gender, characters, and social responsibilities produced by different civilizing projects, it still cannot map a fully image and identity of Huidong women and it worth to be researched indeed. Huidong women are taciturn. As Salomé Voegelin claimed that when silence comes, a powerful voice will come. It is an exaggerated means of communication that demanding through its uncompromising nature a direct confrontation. So, I plan to collect the voices of the Hui’an Woman in daily life to explore their hidden image. I collected three sound elements to express Huidong women, they are Nanyin, Whistle and Chanting. And visualize them by Processing to try to express the potential image of the Hui’an Woman.
1 Nanyin
The first type of voice is “Nan Yin”. If chanting and whistling are unconscious expressions, then Nanyin is the direct expression of Hui’an women’s inner emotions. Local music Nanyin was mainly made by local women to express their emotions. The tune is long and melodious. Hence, I collected the audio of Nanyin from the locals, and transformed it into visual images through programming, so as to describe the complex and vivid inner emotions of Huidong women.
The long painting represents the life of Huidong women. The image changes with Nanyin’s audio-frequency, and the background color changes with the movement of the mouse. I would like to express the different emotions of Huidong women in different social environments through the intervention of the outside world. Click the link to watch the work: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1191318
2 Whistle
The second sound, “Whistle”. Huidong women are usually quiet and silent. However, when they rode motorcycles in the narrow Chongwu Ancient City and whistle frequently, which like a direct confrontation with society without compromise. So I recorded the whistle of the motorcycle and combined it with her image. Click the link to watch the work: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1206111
3 Chanting
The sound of chanting comes from the voice of elderly women praying for family blessings every morning. The peculiar and sad tone reminds me the collective suicide history of Hui’an women. So, I checked the list of Hui’an female suicides and combined it with the sound of prayer. The red image beats with the sound, like a swaying candle, like a beating heart, like a dialogue with the past. Click the link to watch and interactive with the work: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1217004
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