After
by Shu Chen Chen

 
 
 
After was created from 2012 to 2018, and its primary content involves the condition of Taiwanese motel rooms after the occupants have left. Having myself undergone a painful experience, and working from a female point of view, I used my camera to ‘reread’ the interrelated interpretations of these motels’ gendered codes, patriarchal holdovers, obsessions with heroism, wealth games, and other symbolism, as well as the relevance of direct onsite observation to photography. I was inspired by what I found and taking these photographs simultaneously helped me to heal myself.
I used the psychological challenge of imposing myself into these spaces in order to do creative work, along with the aesthetic transformations inherent in image-making, to analyze the unique spatial culture of Taiwan’s motels. Particularly when guests have just left a room, these spaces exhibit peculiar and surreal characteristics, like residual marks, lingering odors, leftover food, and rumpled beds. This all invites individual creativity, transforming the act of viewing into a photographic practice.
 
Shu Chen Chen lives and works in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
To view more of Shu Chen Chen's works, please visit her website.

「空場之後」陳淑貞　

 
「空場之後〈After〉」是作者在 2012-2018 年間的創作，創作內容主要是

以 台灣汽車旅館在宿主離開之後的空場狀態，作者在經歷創傷事件後，以身為女
性 的視點，使用相機來重新閱讀汽車旅館裡充滿性別象徵、殘餘父權、英雄主義、
金錢遊戲等符號的相關詮釋及置身於此空間時的觀察與攝影創作的關聯性，得到
領略與啓發，並同時得到以攝影創作來自我療癒的作用，我也透過介入此空間創
作時的心理衝擊狀態與影像美學轉化實踐創作的過程，解析臺灣汽車旅館中的特
殊空間文化，充滿異質性及脫離現實感的空間特質，尤其在空場之後，宿主遺存
的痕跡、氣味、食物及被單皺摺狀態，呼應個人的創作形式，將自身的觀看過程，
轉化成影像實踐。