A Collective Reminiscing

Over the course of the 1970s and early 1980s, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha created a small body of art and writing celebrated in Asian American culture for its embrace of difficulty. Her best-known project, the experimental text Dictee (1982), contains an unpredictable mix of forms—catechism, letter, biography, schoolbook—and images ranging from anatomy charts and Paleolithic cave art to brush calligraphy by Cha’s father. Its title alludes to French dictation exercises, and near the start it uses those exercises as a poetic structure: Open paragraph It was the first day period She had come from a far period tonight at dinner comma the families would ask comma open quotation marks How was the first day interrogation mark close quotation marks at least to say the least of it possible comma the answer would be open quotation marks there is but one thing period There is someone period From a far period close quotation marks Her video installations and performances are just as demanding, often erasing context in a bid to force the viewer into perceiving the familiar with new eyes. One untitled Super 8 work runs the camera over everyday objects, such as an umbrella’s spokes, in unrecognizably c...