Likenesses: Speaking with the Selves
The Goethe-Institut New York is pleased to present Likenesses: Speaking with the Selves, a two-artist exhibition featuring Li-Ming Hu (b. 1987 in New Zealand, lives in New York City) and Charmaine Poh (b. 1990 in Singapore, lives in Berlin). This exhibition is the first pairing of their works.
Central to this exhibition is a biographical experience shared by both artists—television fame at a young age. In the 2000’s, Hu received a breakout role on New Zealand’s popular soap-opera, Shortland Street, and was later cast as the silver operator on Power Rangers RPM, among other roles. Similarly, Poh starred as the character E-Ching in a hit Singaporean children’s detective show, We are R.E.M., around the same time. Coinciding with the unmoderated internet of Web 1.0, both artists experienced a great deal of prejudice and hate alongside their fame, ranging from racial typecasting to sexual harassment and cyberbullying, sometimes breaking the fourth wall of the screen and spilling over into real life.
Hu’s and Poh’s works on display in this exhibition respond to this time in their lives. Revisiting their former roles, the artists now use performance, installation, and video to re-create and manipulate the context in which their likenesses were used. Hu utilizes humor and absurdity to examine the performance of identity and the particular demands made of minoritized subjects, often remarking on behind-the-scenes activities and metacognitive reflections. Poh, on the other hand, often situates her experience in Eastern and Western philosophical terms, and employs emergent technologies, such as the deepfake and chatbot, to give voice to her younger self and say now what she could not then.
Likenesses: Speaking with the Selves foregrounds not only the parasocial relationship that viewers have with television characters, but also the (dis)connection that actors have with their past roles. Chatrooms and social media have given an unprecedented sense of intimacy between the viewer and the subject, further blurring the boundary between character and actor in their eyes. What, then, can the actor do when the image rights to television shows and commercial reels lie within the purview of faceless corporations? How, then, can one take back control of their image? While Hu and Poh diverge in their strategies to answer these questions, they remain steadfast in their efforts to reclaim and maintain agency over their likenesses—both past and present.
In addition to this gallery exhibition, the artists will perform at the Center for Performance Research on September 29. Additional details and to link to purchase a ticket coming soon.