« In the early sixties, because of air pollution, and water pollution in the countryside (our blue rivers and limpid irrigation ditches) fireflies began to disappear. The phenomenon was swift and terrible. After a few years the fireflies were not longer there. (They are now a painful memory from the past ; and an older man with yet such a memory can no longer see himself in the face of today's youngsters, as he once was, because they have no store of such memories.) » Pier Paolo Pasolini, « Where have all the Fireflies Gone ? » (1975)
What is it like to be a Firefly ?
Vidéo HD, 26 min
2017
Captivated by the fireflies, I decided to begin a quest for narratives, histories, memories. I approach my subject from the point of view of the imagination that they evoke. It will be about recovering a childlike perspective, magical qualies, an alchemy between animal, vegetable and human realms. And it will be about establishing links between this interpretation and the very down to earth contruction of new firefly habitats crossing interview with researchers who save fireflies in Taiwan. How do these legendary insects create so much emotion? How can one revive childhood memories of summer nights? Are fireflies, which used to proliferate before urbanisation, still part of the collective consciousness?
Diffusion
Rivers – The Way of Living in Transition / Asia Contemporary Art 2015
Pier 2 Art Center in Taiwan 25th June – 30th August, 2015
Gwangju City Museum in South Korea during June – July, 2016
Credits
Réalisation Gwenola Wagon 關諾菈·瓦更
Traduction : Chu Po-Ching 朱柏瑾 et Shake 雪克
Wu Pei-Yi 吳珮怡(柳樹婆婆
Society of Wilderness Volontaire dans une association pour protéger l’environnement
Lin San-De 林三德(竹節蟲)
Alliance culturelle Sanchiaoyung
Avalon Earhart Owen 姜安蓉
National Taiwan University e Department of Entomoly
Wu Chiashuang 吳加雄
Tree garden corporation
Chen Wenshan 陳文山
National Taiwan University Geology Survey
Lin Po-Hsiung 林博雄
National Taiwan University Meteorology Survey
Ho Jen-zon 何健鎔
Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute
Hotspring Project Studio 阿斯匹靈計畫工作室
Wu Shanglin 吳尚霖 et Yuho Watanabe 渡邊有穗
Lin Director 林逸松
Youmu Elementary School
Fang Kuo-Yun 方國運
Director Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute
Fan Hwa-de 方華德
Huang Yu-Ching 林憲輔 et Chen Shuchun 林憲輔
Easy ranch community development association