Deciphering Cities_Melbourne
Mix Media Installation, 2017
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
"What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
"They are merely conventional signs!
"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we've got our brave Captain to thank
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best—
A perfect and absolute blank!"
- Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark
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Deciphering Cities_Melbourne uses the city of Melbourne as a point of departure. By tracing and sketching fragmented references of Melbourne found on the internet, including vintage maps and old photographs, Yin-Hua visualises her imagination of Melbourne before her actual arrival. During the residency period Yin-Hua uses these source materials to construct the gallery space and invites ‘Greeters’ (local volunteers who guide tourists on free walking tours of the city) to present this ‘Imagined Melbourne’.
This project was supported by INTERSECT at RMIT University, Australia, and the Kuandu Museum of Museum of Fine Arts and Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan.
© photo by Andrew Barcham