Angela Su received a degree in biochemistry in Canada before pursuing visual arts. Su’s works investigate the perception and imagery of the body, through metamorphosis, hybridity and transformation. Her pseudo-scientific drawings often combine the precision of scientific sketches with a mythical sense of aesthetic to challenge the audience’s visual sensory on the pleasure of pain. Her research-based projects include video, drawing and performative works that focus on the discussion about our state of being and science. In 2013, she published an artist novel Berty and in 2017, a science fiction anthology Dark Fluid where she uses sci-fi as a method for social critique. Su’s works have been exhibited in 17th Biennale of Sydney, 2nd CAFAM Biennale, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Indiana University, Whitechapel Gallery and Saatchi Gallery.
The Afterlife of Rosy Leavers (2017) 14’ 35”
The Afterlife of Rosy Leavers deals with hallucination, mental illness, doppelgängers, and artificial intelligence. This is the story of Rosy, who found an early fascination with spirals, hallucinatory psychedelics, schizophrenic episodes, and has since joined the Socialist Patients’ Collective (SPK). Ultimately, she has uploaded her consciousness to cyberspace and thereby lives her life as an animated character. The exploration of digital consciousness and virtual reality is an important progression of Su’s artistic practice, which had long investigated the limits of the mind-body duality in man-organic and man-bionic/prosthetic hybrids.
—Text courtesy of Blindspot Gallery and the artist.