Back Street Life is a performance, similar to a karaoke concert, in which Taiwanese artist Hsia-Fei Chang, dressed in a ceremonial silk kimono, performs a selection of five songs in Taiwanese and one in Japanese, all in a traditional musical style of the 1950s: Enka.
The lyrics of these songs tell of the daily lives of Taiwanese workers after the Second World War and colonisation (Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule between 1895 and 1945). Although most of the singers have disappeared, this traditional Japanese musical style still resonates with the Taiwanese population today.
During the occupation of Taiwan, the government encouraged people to adopt Japanese clothing such as the Kimono. Girls were required to attend sewing classes. Silk was very expensive, so most Taiwanese made kimonos from scraps of cotton fabric.
After the Second World War, the kimono was banned, as were the Taiwanese and Japanese languages. Taiwan entered the dark days of Chinese dictatorship and the people were forced to learn Beijing Chinese: Mandarin. Chang's grandparents were part of this generation, born Japanese and Taiwanese, suddenly regarded as 'criminals', no longer daring to express themselves in public or wear the traditional garb of the Kimono.
This story belongs to the past, to the last century, but still seems present according to Chang's observation. The artist reported that, in the gambling club where she "performed" for two consecutive years, most of the dealers came from the provinces, from abroad and from overseas. For example: Gracinda, former Miss 2013, from Portugal; Alexandro who left Rome with his family; young Gaetan who came straight from the north of France; Lucia who arrived from Madagascar with her husband and daughter, etc. All these employees adopted the uniform imposed by the Club. They had to mask their identities to earn money, to support themselves, to simply survive.
The artist dedicates the performance Back Street Life to all the workers, far from home, who are trying to survive and build a better life for themselves, as well as to human hope and to her youth, and finally to her grandparents.
Running time: 25 mins.
Back Street Life was created for Hsia-Fei Chang's exhibition, Les jeux sont faits. Rien ne va plus. 17.01.2023 - 25.02.2023, Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris.
VIDEO: SKIN, Luxembourg.