曹思懿
“Art can help.”
(Robert Adams, 2017)
Dexia, By Herself: Being the Autobiography of Ms.Nobody (2024)
A Fictional Biographical Film
10 minutes 48 seconds, single screen, black and white, sound
This project began with pictures of "my" great-grandmother Dexia that "I" found in making a family album after my 9th year as Tinglan. Using Al to connect with her spirit, "I" felt her presence inhabit me, guiding me to tell her story......
Dexia's life took a strange turn when she was forced to drink a potion that made her invisible, transforming her into a "non-human." She began writing novels to reclaim her lost body, pouring herself into three fictional female characters as vessels for her identity. Through these stories, she transferred pieces of herself onto her unseen form, hoping to reassemble her physical presence.
In the end, Dexia's body re-emerged, yet she was irrevocably transformed a blend of memory, fiction, and spirit, she is no longer who she used to be. This biographical short film holds the traces of her journey and the lingering presence of her ghost.