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DOXA: Forget Me Not

June 18, 2020

June 18 - 26

On the South Korean Island of Jeju is an institution called Aeshuwon, which houses young and unmarried pregnant women. Here they seek refuge from their everyday life in order to keep their pregnancy a secret. During their stay, the women must make the crucial choice of whether to keep their child or give it up for adoption. This bears great consequence, as many schools and workplaces in Korea refuse to accept unmarried mothers. Confronting the stigma of being unwed, Forget Me Not follows three women at the institution for unwed mothers, as they take steps toward such a difficult decision. 

Aeshuwon’s head manager, called Mrs. Im, is a strong-willed feminist and plays a lead role in passionately advocating for the women and their independence, often against judgement from parents, romantic partners, and society at large. Director Sun Hee Engelstoft, whose experience of being adopted informed this work, uses an empathic lens to capture candid conversations between the women and those around them. The result is an extraordinarily personal look at motherhood, and the ongoing consequences of rigid social structure and family tradition.

Year: 2019
Runtime: 83 minutes
Country: Korea, Republic of
Director: Sun Hee Engelstoft

About DOXA

Our Mission:

To support a better understanding of the complexity of our times through engaging the public in documentary media as an art form.

We’re Committed To:

  • Cultivating curiosity and critical thought
  • Promoting the intersection of actuality and artistic expression
  • Fostering a local and international community interested in non-fiction media

Our Mandate:

DOXA is presented by The Documentary Media Society, a Vancouver based non-profit, charitable society (incorporated in 1998) devoted to presenting independent and innovative documentaries to Vancouver audiences. The society exists to educate the public about documentary film as an art form through DOXA Documentary Film Festival, a curated and juried festival comprised of public screenings, panel discussions, public forums and educational programs. The 19th annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival has been postponed; stay tuned for further details. DOXA will present Vancouver’s second annual Podcast Festival November 5-8, 2020.

The Documentary Media Society is a founding member tenant of the 110 Arts Co-op which manages The Post at 750 office and studio facilities.

The Documentary Media Society is located on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. 

DOXA (pronounced dox'-ah) is a greek word meaning common belief or popular opinion. 

Artist

Image of Pixy Liao courtesy of the artist and Shen Wei.

Brooklyn-based artist Pixy Liao’s ongoing project, Experimental Relationship, dwells on sociocultural tendencies, power play, and emotional sustenance by examining the dynamics of her personal, romantic relationship, performed with photography and printed matter. Since 2007, the Chinese-born artist has staged photographs and live performances with her Japanese boyfriend, Moro, in keen attempts to balance, reverse, or subvert cultural traditions and gendered behaviours in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek, yet graceful manner. The sometimes-surreal images created throughout the process signal some of the traditional values and views of intimacy that are dictating interactions between the two lovers; they also point to a broader context in which gender dynamics and gendered expectations are questioned: Who is leading the relationship, who has the deciding voice in decision making, and who is gazing. Pixy and Moro’s relationship, in a way activated (not documented) by the project, has also been growing with it. Accompanying the photographic works and acting as an extension of Experimental Relationship in the exhibition is Pimo Dictionary, a collection of hybrids of Chinese, Japanese, English words and phrases as well as slangs, which was inspired by Pixy and Moro’s communication barriers.

About Centre A

Centre A’s mandate is to be an engaged participant in the ongoing production of a pluralistic and democratic society. We strive to activate contemporary art’s vital role in building and understanding the long and dynamic Asia-Canada relationship while tackling questions of broader concern from Asian and Asian-diasporic perspectives. Amidst the absence of institutional commitment in Canada to contemporary art as a vital site for social engagement and critical cultural production in local, migrant, and global Asian contexts, the gallery has continued to be dedicated to:

Supporting the creation of new works by Asian and Asian-diasporic artists in Canada, particularly emerging artists and artists within the Asian milieu whose voices are underrepresented due to the particular intersectional spaces that they occupy; facilitating collaboration and creative exchange between Asian artists in Canada and abroad, in order to engage critically with local, regional and national concerns from a global perspective; fostering meaningful relationships with local arts organizations, collectives, community organizations and groups within the Asian community and beyond; and engaging meaningfully with the call for Reconciliation and contribute to the understanding and navigation of non-European settler identities from Asian perspectives.

Date
Thursday, June 18 - Friday, June 26, 2020

Time
8:30 pm

Place
Streaming on Eventive

For more information on streaming and to purchase tickets visit HERE

SPONSORS

  • SFU David Lam Centre