Daughter Outside the Formwork

Introdution

Since high school, as my gender identity gradually became more visible, my father slowly stopped talking to me voluntarily.

Even until the day he passed away, I never had the chance to finish the words that had never reached him as his daughter.

My father spent most of his life working on construction sites. Formwork was part of the labor that allowed him to support our family, and it also became a clue for me to understand his body.

Under the bright sun, I carried formwork on my back and kept moving for an hour, allowing the roughness, heat, and weight of the wood to enter my body and walking into the silence that had existed between us for so long.

The formwork was a tool my father used to support our family. It was also like a gender framework standing between my father and me.

When words could not reach him, I used my body to listen to the traces he left behind. Finally, I could return to this relationship as my true self; beyond the binary, I could once again come closer to my father as his daughter.

Comment From the Judge :
Eno Chen

This work creates a strong connection between its visual presentation and written narrative.

Formwork, commonly seen on construction sites, carries a rough and masculine quality. It symbolizes the deceased father, as well as his lack of understanding and acceptance during his lifetime.

On a physical and symbolic level, the formwork presses heavily against the feminine-presenting person. Yet on a spiritual level, the feminine body carries and supports that rough masculinity and the complicated father-child relationship.

The thin-strap top and mesh head covering carry a feminine quality. The body is unprotected as it confronts the weight on its back, yet the image remains visually light and soft.

In this way, the work transforms the opposition between masculinity and femininity, allowing different qualities of life to coexist.