Reconnection

Performance Photograph: 2021

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume with a phoenix crown on her hands flags beside The St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume with a phoenix crown on her hands beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume beside The St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a blue Chinese opera costume with sand on her hands beside The St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a blue Chinese opera costume with two flags beside The St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a blue Chinese opera costume with a phoenix crown on her hands beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume with a phoenix crown on her hands beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a blue Chinese opera costume with a stone on her hands beside The St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a blue Chinese opera costume with a phoenix crown on her hands beside The St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume with a phoenix crown on her hand beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a red Chinese opera costume with a phoenix crown on her hands beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong wears Oculus VR headset and a blue Chinese opera costume with two flags beside the St. Lawrence River.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong connects two homes together through performative gestures and technology

“Reconnection” is a series of performance photographs explore the ideas of connecting two places — my two homes — through performative gestures and immersive technology. It was made during my Fall 2021 residency at The Musée de Charlevoix in Charlevoix, Quebec. The river behind me is The St. Lawrence River. In this series I’m wearing Beijing opera costumes and a VR headset to perform a series of gestures and movements. In my headset I see and experience the Chinese Great Wall. This wall can be interpreted in many ways: as physical barrier, bans, firewalls, what is deemed acceptable and what is not, and the two sides of a thing. VR is a kind of illusion, as it brings one into situations or places that make one feel that they are present, when they actually are not. Creating these works was an emotional experience for me. When performing the gestures in Charlevoix, I could touch, smell, and sense the Canadian landscape – one of my homes – around me, but visually I was immersed in the Chinese landscape of the Great Wall: a barrier to a place – a home – where I cannot currently be.

for installation view at Gallery 101, please visit here

I’d like to express my deep appreciation to the Musée de Charlevoix, Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie, and two photographers, Donald Lavoie, and Michel Antoine Castonguay for your generous support and helps.