The Ruins of Lost Souls​

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Photo Collage

2023-ongoing

The Ruins of Lost Souls is a series of B&W collage images, which involves the use of generative AI technology to produce surreal details. It is inspired by the research of traditional taboos, body discrimination and bullying of marginal people in Hung's previous series The Skeletons in the Closet. It’s also a visual response to how Hung family’s health status has impacted her exploration of her own identity and existence in recent years.

Hung’s family was diagnosed with a genetic disease - Marfan Syndrome in 2016. Hung alongside all of her family members were taken for blood tests. H was the only family member diagnosed with a negative result of this disorder. Hung was surprised and confused by this news. Even though not a disease carrier, she felt that her family had been judged by medical authorities as "unwanted people" in the concept of eugenics.

This blow made Hung’s not know how to face herself and family, and it also made question her identity in the family. In the process of entangling with her marginalised identity, she started exploring the world of abandoned sites, which are quiet places to help her temporarily forget her worries. These places are described as "negative spaces", as their existence is not recognised. Feeling scared and uneasy at the beginning to enter the ruins, however this feeling turned to a sense of curiosity and an extraordinarily calm. Finally understanding that her uneasiness came from her lack of understanding of these places. Similarly, her uneasiness about the family’s situation came from the lack of understanding of such genetic disease. The abandoned sites made her understand that the source of fear is ignorance of things, and the experience of viewing ruins is a way of self-healing.

In addition to the metaphor of abandoned sites, the work also uses "pigeon" and "spider" masks, as well as other body props to imitate the physical characteristics of patients with Marfan syndrome. These patients are also known as "Pigeon Man" or "Spider Man" because of their unusual long bone structure, protruding sternum, curved joints, and drooping facial features. By portraying their looks of exposing the weird appearance Hung played in front of the camera, she can feel the external gaze received by her family members. Through this experience, she understands how traditional physiognomic concepts affect the way modern people look at disables, and its reflection on the prevalence of body discrimination in modern society.