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Title
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Wu Tsang
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Description
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Artist Wu Tsang, born in 1982 in Worcester, Massachusetts, is an internationally acclaimed MacArthur Fellow and openly queer artist who works in mixed media. She uses her art to highlight the stories of people that are not often told, focusing on the exploration of queer/trans rights and the narratives of people of color/immigrants. It is clear through her work that she has a particular interest in traditional storytelling, using dance, poetry, and cinematic scenes to bring written words to life.
One of Tsang's most famous works is a project inspired by Herman Melville’s classic novel: Moby Dick (1851.) Tsang created two films that were inspired by this traditional tale. In 2022, Tsang made the film “Moby Dick,” also called “The Whale.” This artistic adaptation of the story of Moby Dick features queer characters and characters of color, completely flipping the script on the original story. Moby Dick was a significant choice for this adaption because it is a story that does not traditionally welcome anyone other than straight, white characters. However, like all theatrical narratives, there is a level of whimsy that already exists to be crafted into something modern. This specific adaptation was written by Sophia Al Maria and directed by Wu Tsang: Tsang recasts, “two of the novel’s main characters, Ishmael and Queequeg, as lovers and the ship’s crew as a community that has partly transcended gender and race. It features queer sex (Rogers, Thomas) The film also focuses greatly on the story of the whale itself, following the creature above and below the surface of the ocean. In the films, Tsang combines art forms such as poetry and dance. Costumery is also incredibly important to Tsang. As seen in figure 3, it is clear that the costumes emulate classic portrayals of pirates while modernizing them, for example the headpiece in the image is made of silk and the ruffles along the wrists are ruffled and more flamboyant than traditionally seen. Modernizing the pirate is significant because it plays into the entire function of the film, taking a traditional figure and developing their presentation to fit into the realm of a queer portrayal of the story.
Tsang’s other movie “Of Whales” is a silent feature film length movie focusing on ambient images and sounds of underwater. The images put forth deep dark blues and showcase the animals moving in a dance-like sense, making the viewers feel as though they are in an aquarium and not a museum. Taking the onlookers out of the museum space almost converts the performance to reality, blurring the line between what is real and what is fake. Tsang’s work has been featured in many museums including the Modern Museum of Art in New York and the Chicago Art institute.
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Alternative Title
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Moby Dick
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Source
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Name
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Sadie Hill
