MONICA TOLIA

a snake in the house means the family will never want

​
​2022
Sculptural costuming series: cheongsam-style vest & mask constructed by freehand embroidery & high-visibility thread; logo vest & oversized coat in 3M reflective fabric with black polyester embroidery
Performance, 25 min
​

A multi-sensory performance blending visual art/sculptural costuming, dance & live electronica, the title of the work is based on an old Chinese proverb, and the departure point for articulating lived experiences & intimacies as Asian diaspora with cultural misunderstandings, intergenerational healing & transformation.

Opening with an audio voicenote of the artist’s mother reflecting on overwork, xenophobia & cultural invisibility through the semiotics of the snake & ingrained tendency of Hek Fu 吃苦 (transl.: eating bitterness), the song of the declining dialect of Toisanese forms the background to which the duo onstage perform a choreography suspended in repetitive mechanisms between work and ritual.  Movement eventually departs into sensuous animalism, exploring what liberatory potential is there when we learn from & embody more than what is human.  Wearing sculptural costuming illuminated by light, and shifting form with the dancer’s movements, the performance projects transformational imaginings of cultural & futuristic hybridity.

This iteration has been developed in collaboration with choreographer & performer 
​
Ting-ning Wen.


​
Exhibitions/events:
Premiering on 10 June 2022: Resolution Festival, The Place (London)
PRESS RELEASE
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​Image credits: Phoenix Tanner
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​​©  2022  Monica Tolia

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  • HOME
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  • WORKS
  • HAVE YOU EATEN YET? COLLECTIVE
    • NIAN is here! 年到了
    • Lunar New Year Festival 2022
    • Deptford X Festival 2021: Have you eaten yet?
    • ABOUT 你吃了吗
  • a snake in the house means the family will never want
    • The Place (June 2022)
    • Deptford X Festival (July 2021)
  • Low Murmur
  • 2m
  • Flora / Fauna / Machina
    • Chalton Gallery for Art Night (June 2019)
    • Gossamer Fog (January 2019)
  • Technologies of Lived Abstraction: FUTURE PRESENT
    • FUTURE PRESENT 2
    • FUTURE PRESENT 1
  • BioSonics
  • -----
  • ABOUT
  • NEWS
  • INSTAGRAM