The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, 1996 : Report

Following his large-scale political paintings, Wu Tien-Chang began working with old photographs to create highly symbolic portraits. The artist says in his statement: My works are intended to exploit the paradoxes between image and material (real and unreal) as well as the temporal-spatial dislocations of objects in order to integrate reflections on the human history of Taiwan. The design of the body language of the actors, especially through the concealment of the windows on the human soul (the eyes) , reinforces the visual message of 'damage'. With the bold use of common and brightly-coloured materials such as artificial d iamonds, velours, artificial flowers and leather, the apparition-like sparkles highlight the primitive realm of the carnal desires of humankind, thus constituting a cold, stark visual experience . SOUTH AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA INDIA Nalini Malarii has earned great respect in I ndia and is concerned with the position of women within the incongruities of contemporary Indian society. Nalini joined other wpmen artists to represent India at the Johannesburg Biennale in 1 995. The Woman series and the Mutant, like her engaging book works, overlay often contradictory elements and create distorted and disturbing figures, more like apparitions of presences than distinct images. Nalini presented one of her unique double sided concertinaed books in the Second Triennial as well a major installation piece , Body as site. Body as site is an installation comprising wall drawings and works on paper. The stain is a mark of menstruation connotin g the female body. The MUTANTS emerge from stains made with fabric dye on milk carton paper. The idea of permanence and impermanence is inherent when I juxtapose the stained mark of the MUTANT next to an imprint of the female body on the wall. The wall support is the receptacle that receives the imprint. The Women's body on the wall is the site that records history, ecological devastation, gender biases. The body site has erasure and death as its implicit text. There is an incantatory ritual in the manufacture of the body and in the destroying of it. This connects to much of Women's work which is impermanent and transitory. No trace remains except in memory. The body site is wiped clean and I move on to the next wal l with my MUTANTS, whom I wish to protect. The milk carton paper may or may not provide the 10