Patterns of Extinct Life I - Jhouyu HSIEH

Patterns of Extinct Life I - What a Wonderful Lizard Island

滅絕物種的生活模式－第一部曲：多麼美妙蜥蜴島

Line drawing on wall, Print, Mix-media installation, Video 1’52” (Loop), Three channels sound

2019

Dimensions Variable

Between 1934 and 1936, Ratas island was destroyed when Port Mahon was rebuilt (Day, 1981), was dynamited in order to widen the small passage in the bay of Mahón for bigger ships (COMPTE SART, 1968). P. l. rodriquezi, a special subspecies lizard, was extinct with the island.

I visited Menorca for several times and tried to find out the position where Ratas island existed and the imagination of P. l. rodriquezi from the historical archives. During the local roaming, I was fortunate enough to meet an old man near Mahon Bay, he introduced me to a scholar who studied biology. He took me to see the island of Ildar de l'Aire, which is also known as the island of black lizards, where another subspecies Podarcis lilfordi lilfordi live there. There is only one lighthouse and countless black lizards live on the island; he told me about a kind of tours in Menorca now, humans take boat to landing the island of the Black Lizard, but it may affect the immune system of the black lizard.

"zao-fei-ji (Manufacturing aircraft)" is a nursery rhyme from Taiwan. The lyricist is Xiao Liangzheng, the composer is Wu Kaiya. Taiwan is a small island located in the north of the Philippines and the east of China. In this art work, I made three versions of the sound, asking about historical events in the Western Isles and construction and destruction of the east island in contemporary.

在1934年至1936年間，Isla Ratas在重建城市的港口時，為了擴大航道及釋放更長的海軍水上飛機起降空間而被炸毀，P. l. rodriquezi 此一特殊亞種蜥蜴也因此隨著它的島嶼而滅絕。

我數次走訪了梅諾卡島，試圖從歷史檔案裡推敲出曾經Isla Ratas存在的位置和 P. l. rodriquezi 存在的想像。在當地漫遊的過程中，我很幸運的在馬洪灣附近認識了一位老先生，他介紹我認識了當地研究生物的學者，他帶我去看了利氏壁蜥的另一亞種－Podarcis lilfordi lilfordi生存的島嶼艾拉島（Illa de l'Aire）－也被稱作黑蜥蜴之島，島嶼上僅有一座燈塔和無數的黑蜥蜴；他告訴我現在在梅諾卡島的一種觀光行程，人類乘坐輕艇到黑蜥蜴之島觀光，但這可能會影響黑蜥蜴的免疫系統。

〈造飛機〉是一首來自台灣的童謠，作詞人是蕭良政，作曲人則是吳開芽；台灣是一個位於菲律賓北方、中國東方的小島；在這件作品裡，我製作了三個版本的聲音裝置，提問關於西方小島曾經發生的歷史事件與位於東方的島嶼當代建設與破壞。