whom 34 tā made me

Concept & Performance: Chang Liu (Leo)  

Installation: Chang Liu (Leo)  

Screendance: Chang Liu (Leo) 

Copy Writer: Chang Liu (Leo)  

Music & Sound: Jonathan Starr 

Documentation: Chang Liu (Leo), Kevin Julianto, Helena Lundqvist  

Produced in 2024 (ongoing) 

Presented at Black Box, Norrdans, Härnösand, Sweden   

Concept: 

whom 34 tā made me is a multidisciplinary artistic practice and a dance exhibition work still in process, reflecting on 34 queer life stories that have shaped my understanding of identity, queerness, and artistry. Through screendance, installations, interaction, and live performance in collaboratin with participants, this experimental work explores themes of love, abuse, trauma, death, childhood, friendship, political climates, and cultural diversity, and sociopolitical issues through the lens of the fluid Chinese pronoun "tā", which reflects gender and non-human identity fluidity, I aim to explore the ways in which identity transcends cultural and political boundaries.  

In Mandarin Chinese, "tā" (/ta:/) is the shared pronunciation for all third-person pronouns, even though they are written differently: 

• 他 refers to males or mixed-gender groups. 

• 她 refers to females. 

• 牠 refers to animals. 

• 祂 refers to deities and spirits. 

• 它 refers to non-living things or objects. 

Despite the differences in meaning and context, the sound—tā—remains the same, reflecting a fluidity that this project seeks to explore.  It serves as both a personal letter and a confrontation—to myself, my history, and, I hope, to audience as well.   

This work also contains nudity, sexual content, and sensitive themes. Please engage at your own pace, and feel free to step away if needed for your well-being.