“Metal Odyssey”, the winning exhibition of the 4th Jimei x Arles Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image, curated by Yi-Ning Lin (Michelle) and Chia-Shin Yang, opens at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing on April 4th, 2025, and will be presented until June 1st.
Jimei x Arles “Curator Award for Photography” was jointly launched by the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre and CHANEL in 2021, with the mission of supporting emerging Chinese curators and researchers, fostering their growth and development in the field of photography and moving images. Yi-Ning Lin and Chia-Shin Yang stood out in the three rounds of jury selection with their proposal Metal Odyssey. This proposal was presented as a finalist in the group exhibition during the 2024 Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival and won the fourth edition of the Jimei x Arles “Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image.” Supported by the award, the Metal Odyssey project has entered the deepening and implementation stage and showcases to the public as an exhibition at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing.
Metal Odyssey revisited and reinterprets medical records through the works of artists Jess Ching-Wa Lau and Chia-Shin Yang, employing a “documentary gesture” to portray the process of recovery as observed by others or as a personal journey from illness to healing. The exhibition incorporates various media, including medical records, diaries, audio works, and still and moving images, transforming personal struggles and intimate experiences into a public aesthetic encounter. It deeply explores the preservation, reconstruction, and transformation of life memories, along with a renewed understanding of familial intimacy. The term “metal” in the exhibition’s title symbolizes medical instruments and their intermediary role in medical cases, while subtly hinting at the creative spark between the artist and curator.
Curator Chia-Shin Yang also responds to the exhibition theme in her role as an artist. Her works, rooted in the concept of “re-covery,” analyze and replicate her private medical history, personal experiences of illness, and family structure. In the installation 08773545, she integrates her mother’s sketch writing and daily images. By reconstructing medical records, she transforms the archives into an immersive space for viewers to navigate. Additionally, she presents the sound installation alongside he family album, reflecting the inability to face past trauma, while mending the true dynamics of caregiving relationships. Artist Jess Ching-Wa Lau, documents her father’s journey from the discovery of cataracts to his post-surgery recovery, as viewed through her own lens. Through dynamic and still images, she offers an organic reassembly of memories. Echoing the proposition that “humans cannot look directly at the sun”, a new work, The Star Within Your Sun, is introduced.
As an encounter space, where “real life stories” meet the audiences, the exhibition continues the “Audience Engagement” approach from the earlier phase of the curatorial project. Through question- based written invitations and documents, it encourages and guides the audience to explore personal life experiences from a semi-fictional, semi-real perspective, expanding the possibilities of co-creative writing. In Metal Odyssey, individual experiences intertwine, dialogue, and merge, creating a broader narrative space.
During the exhibition opening, the curatorial team invited curator Joanna Fu and artist He Bo to join a panel discussion titled “The Interplay of Writing, Visual Archives, and Memory.” They delved into how individual experiences are preserved and written through images, addressing the most intimate aspects of Metal Odyssey. The discussion also explored how presenting these stories invites the audience to engage in a profound conversation about the preservation of creation, caregiving, and intimacy.
Yi-Ning Lin and Chia-Shin Yang will also engage in a discussion with independent curator and publisher Yumi Goto at the Kyotography on April 26. The talk, titled “Interweaving Photography and Text: An Artistic Journey from Imagery to Narrative,” aims to foster broader interaction and exchange based on the practice of Metal Odyssey.
Since the establishment of the Jimei x Arles Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image by Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in collaboration with CHANEL in 2021, the project has aZracted 1ti6 curatorial proposal submissions through open calls. 40 shortlisted curators/groups participated in an in-person review and discussion with the award jury. The Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival, meanwhile, has supported 20 curators/groups, by staging group exhibitions of each edition’s finalists. With support from the award, the winning proposals over the four editions have been successfully presented through exhibitions and public programme in Beijing, Shanghai, and Singapore. In addition, building on the practice of award selection and ” Curatorial Master Courses”, the innovative exchange and learning programme “Curatorial Seminar for Photography and Moving Image” has been launched. This initiative provides a robust foundation for emerging curators, theoretical researchers, and art project managers in the field of photography and moving image, and infusing new energy into the landscape of contemporary Chinese art.
Extending the House’s legacy of arts patronage that began with Gabrielle Chanel’s support of avant-garde artists of her time and her desire to be part of what happens next, CHANEL launched its CHANEL Culture Fund in March 2021, supporting innovators across the arts in advancing new ideas and greater representation in culture and society. It is a global programme focusing on two areas: a series of international partnerships to catalyse new perspectives with institutions and organizations, including the “Next Cultural Producer Programme” co-created with the Power Station of Art in Shanghai; and CHANEL Next Prize, developed to provide an emerging generation of creative risk-takers with resources to tackle ambitious new projects, creating conditions for artists to experiment with visionary ideas, test new forms of artmaking and collaborate across disciplines. As one of the House’s signatures, CHANEL also continues dialogue with the world of cinema, collaborating with numerous film festivals and institutions to create conditions for women and emerging filmmakers to thrive.
Three Shadows Photography Art Centre and CHANEL have created a platform for emerging curators and researchers, combining in-depth exchange with hands-on learning. This partnership provides rich resources and development opportunities, inspiring young curators to freely explore and courageously express their ideas. By supporting research on contemporary artistic issues, the collaboration aims to foster innovative practices and projects with a deep sense of social responsibility. Three Shadows and CHANEL look forward to their ongoing efforts not only sparking positive change within the art world but also inspiring profound reflections on art and culture in society, injecting lasting vitality into the future of the creative ecosystem.
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