2020 Colorado Showcase
Presents:
For Tashi | Denver, CO, 2020 (7 min)
J. Cecilia Wu
Sunday, February 23
2:00PM
Stay after the showcase for our Filmmaker Talkback!
Artist Statement
This project is dedicated to all the mothers who lost their children prematurely. It was produced in loving memory of Tashi, the composer's own miscarried baby, who was gone too soon.
Pregnancy and birth are regarded as a joyful time, but pregnancy loss is usually a shocking and traumatic event for women and their families. Globally, about 10–20 percent of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage, which can lead to grief, anxiety, depression and possibly symptoms of PTSD. Grief following miscarriage is comparable in nature, intensity, and duration to grief reactions in people suffering other types of major loss. And yet, we rarely talk openly about pregnancy loss, and our society has yet to recognize the significance of this loss to the parents, especially to the mothers, leaving them to grieve alone, socially isolated. For many
women, although their grief will become less acute over time, miscarriage is a loss they always carry with them.
With this project, the two female artists Rebecca Ruige Xu and Jiayue Cecilia Wu attempt to create a representation of physical, emotional and psychological journey that a woman goes through when losing her baby prematurely. It depicts the physical trauma inside a woman’s body, hinting the complex emotions she feels while experiencing this emotional and psychological turmoil before she might reach her relative acceptance of this profound loss.
The artists are motivated to share this deeply personal and emotional experience through music and art in the hope to raise public awareness of the impact of miscarriage on a woman’s mental and physical health, which is often unspoken, misunderstood, and otherwise overlooked in our society. Furthermore, the artists wish to bring attention to the importance of women's prenatal and mental care, as well as the support and assistance needed by survivors of baby loss and their families.
Pregnancy and birth are regarded as a joyful time, but pregnancy loss is usually a shocking and traumatic event for women and their families. Globally, about 10–20 percent of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage, which can lead to grief, anxiety, depression and possibly symptoms of PTSD. Grief following miscarriage is comparable in nature, intensity, and duration to grief reactions in people suffering other types of major loss. And yet, we rarely talk openly about pregnancy loss, and our society has yet to recognize the significance of this loss to the parents, especially to the mothers, leaving them to grieve alone, socially isolated. For many
women, although their grief will become less acute over time, miscarriage is a loss they always carry with them.
With this project, the two female artists Rebecca Ruige Xu and Jiayue Cecilia Wu attempt to create a representation of physical, emotional and psychological journey that a woman goes through when losing her baby prematurely. It depicts the physical trauma inside a woman’s body, hinting the complex emotions she feels while experiencing this emotional and psychological turmoil before she might reach her relative acceptance of this profound loss.
The artists are motivated to share this deeply personal and emotional experience through music and art in the hope to raise public awareness of the impact of miscarriage on a woman’s mental and physical health, which is often unspoken, misunderstood, and otherwise overlooked in our society. Furthermore, the artists wish to bring attention to the importance of women's prenatal and mental care, as well as the support and assistance needed by survivors of baby loss and their families.
From the Director
Human beings are deeply expressive. We use body language, and speech to communicate our thoughts and feelings to other individuals. During musical performances, audiences often connect to the performer and mentally model thoughts and feelings in the performers mind, in what is called emotional contagion (Hatfield et al., 1993). In addition, humans are highly skilled at reading bodies, and voices; this ability begins at infancy and is refined to an art by adulthood (Darwin, 1872). Body motion and gestures are natural artistic expression forms worthy of further study and implementation in live performance. The aspiration of the Mandala project is to capture the natural forms of human expression and embody them artistically in realtime by bringing an ancient art form of Tibetan Buddhism to the digital world.
About the Filmmakers
Jiayue Cecilia Wu is a composer, scholar, and multimedia artist. Cecilia earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Design and Engineering in 2000. In 2013, Cecilia obtained her Master of Arts degree from Stanford University. In 2018, Cecilia obtained her Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology from UC Santa Barbara. As a musician, she received an award from the California State Assembly. As a multimedia artist, she received the “Young Alumni Artist Grant Award” from Stanford University. As a scholar, she has received research grants and fellowships from the Audio Engineering Society, University of California, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Currently, Cecilia is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado's College of Arts and Media.
Rebecca Ruige Xu’s artwork and research interests include artistic data visualization, visual music, experimental animation, interactive installations, digital performance and virtual reality. Her recent work has been appeared at: IEEE VIS Arts Program; SIGGRAPH & SIGGRAPH Asia Art Gallery; ISEA; Ars Electronica; Museum of Contemporary Art, Italy; Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, USA; Expressive 2015, CAe+SBIM+NPAR, Istanbul, Turkey; FILE– Electronic Language International Festival, Brazil; Techfest -Technical Arts Exhibition, India; Colloquium culture and digitization, Switzerland; CYNETart, Germany; International Digital Art Exhibition, China; Boston Cyberarts Festival, USA. Xu currently teaches computer art and animation as an Associate Professor in College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.
Rebecca Ruige Xu’s artwork and research interests include artistic data visualization, visual music, experimental animation, interactive installations, digital performance and virtual reality. Her recent work has been appeared at: IEEE VIS Arts Program; SIGGRAPH & SIGGRAPH Asia Art Gallery; ISEA; Ars Electronica; Museum of Contemporary Art, Italy; Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, USA; Expressive 2015, CAe+SBIM+NPAR, Istanbul, Turkey; FILE– Electronic Language International Festival, Brazil; Techfest -Technical Arts Exhibition, India; Colloquium culture and digitization, Switzerland; CYNETart, Germany; International Digital Art Exhibition, China; Boston Cyberarts Festival, USA. Xu currently teaches computer art and animation as an Associate Professor in College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.
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