<MIDVA> Color photograph series
Simon Chang
Anja and I have been rearranging our room recently. We laid out a new rug and moved the new bookshelf and desk next to the window. The space next to our queen-sized bed was for the baby and we decorated the crib with wooden toys given to us by relatives. Anja tied on the infant sling I had brought back from Taipei and laid sideways on our bed. She reached her hand between the railing of the crib and tried out the tones and voices she would use to lull the baby to sleep. I suddenly realized, at that moment, the nuanced relationship between expressions and tones. The early spring sun of Slovenj Gradec in northern Slovenia was very zealous which caused relatives that lived in the area to dig out t-shirts and shorts still wrinkled with the folds of winter from their closet. They exclaimed to me that the last time it was this hot in April was only a distant memory.
I had already prepared myself for the mindset of a father-to-be, how I wish I had some sort of standard not unlike the highs and lows of the temperature that I could base myself upon�
The infant sling gave Anja even more pregnant charm. The flowers in the garden seem to have survived the long winter in the time of one night and were celebrating, on the lawn, their newly acquired energy after thawing. In this little valley on the borders of Austria, these flowers fight with one another in attempts to infect the inhabitants of the planets with the most passion they can muster. The forest behind out house was like a freshly painted wall that displayed different depths of freshness. The green tips of branches and the unobtrusive faces of the veterans that made it through the winter swayed together with the wind. Waves of sighs threaded through the branches like a soft and tender whisper. It almost seemed like these trees that watched Anja grow up were discussing whether the baby in Anja�s belly would be a boy or a girl� Anja�s baby book was already flipped open to week 38 that had a drawing of a glowing expectant mother. That picture must have been used to bring innumerable courage to its readers.
I continued to try to experience the natural passion before me without any distractions. The orbit of the universe seemed to leave footprints behind every smallest step. Ants were carrying grains of sand smaller than a pea on their backs. I don�t think ants resign themselves to their fate but instead it is more like a pre-arranged plot. Even if we were in a different dimension, in different scenery, the same group of stars above our heads has already started to work since the very moment we were born. Anja is nearing her new ninth month of pregnancy. In her belly, our baby girl hiccups, flips and eagerly awaits the start of life�s journey� We continued to try out soothing voices our baby might like. And we believe that, yet again, the biggest joy in life is to discover things around us that are unfamiliar and just waiting for us to learn and explore�
It�s been eight years since I�ve moved to Europe to travel and pursue photography. My Prague story ended in the spring of 2010. Anja helped me pack in my room in Prague and I moved to Slovenia, a small country at the northern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, in June to continue collecting visual stories. I had originally only planned to stay in Prague for six months. But I realized the simple drive to �discover myself� needed a lifetime; something I could not complete, even all the way until I take my last breath.
I needed some tools in preparation to face this challenge, for example: language acquisition. Learning a new language after thirty years of age is a hard task but I was fortunate to have Czech as a basis. Slovenian is also a Slavic language; most European languages only distinguish between singular and plural but Slovenian also has a �dual� form. When there are two of something, dual is used; only when there is three or more of something, plural is used. The translation of MIDVA means �the two of us� (Mi means us and dva means the number 2) and this is the nominative form of a dual noun. If the subject is dual, the subsequent verb would have to be conjugated in the same manner. It is different from both singular and plural and this is what makes the Slovene language so unique.
My bohemian life in Prague was almost like the continuation of compensation for my delayed youth. Camera and inquisitiveness in hand, I stepped into a circle of characters one would only see in movies. I�ve observed people�s lives up close and jotted down notes on my frames of film. Ruminating in the past, I juxtapose my European experience with my familiar handwriting. After my move to Slovenia, Anja patiently explained the concept of MIDVA/dual to me. She explained the concept to me not only in terms of grammar but also in our day-to-day life.
During my time in Prague, I was forever pursuing the question. �Who am I?� There was a lot of confusion due to lack of news from my home. Every time I looked out my tiny window during a flight, it was almost as if answers, set against the clear blue sky, masked as clouds revealed new messages. The answers were dramatically evaporating evidence, landscapes that appeared one-by-one before my eyes. I�m a Catholic who was baptized at a young age but I�ve never had the patience to study the densely packed sentences of the bible. Instead, I choose to read what I come across in my journey: the melancholy faces that attempt to sort through their emotions. I believe this is the empathy every religion wants to evoke. After spending 7 years at the Film and TV School of Academy Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), I was a dissertation away from getting my diploma. But I instinctively believed the influence I received spending two years photographing stories on adult film actors was much more powerful and enlightening on my life than humdrum photography theory. I started interning at a studio when I was in high school and if I was still in Taipei, there would be projects that I had directed being broadcasted on TV. Yet I stubbornly chose to keep the comfortable and the familiar at a distance. We could also say a different destiny has attached itself to me. I had quietly strayed away from the path. It was like when artists repeatedly overthrow or criticize the condition or motivation of things before their eyes. They may take on a more abstract style, flip the canvas to the other side, or start fresh. Lighting a new lamp seems to make my vision sharper than before. I look towards the crowd heading in the other direction, the familiar that gradually move further away from me. And some of those shadows look like mine�
Just like that, I retrieved my previously checked-in luggage and I found a starting point in Europe, a land with a seven hour time difference from home. The starting point was like the tip of the iceberg. I could view traveling in a faraway life as meditation. Tranquility is sometimes lonely; it�s only yourself and your other self. Some things are steadily lost, like scenery outside a car. Some things are assiduously formed, as if a traveler delightedly watches the slow rise of a city from the edge of the horizon. A burning curiosity prompts my desire to see the invisible potential of this iceberg hidden underwater. So called boundaries are closely linked with the fear in the deep recesses of my heart�
The Slovenia experience was advanced training for me. Grammar practice of using singular and dual forms of �me� and �the two of us� led me to the surprising discovery that even the simplest things in life has its own unique magic. I�m still getting used to the concept of MIDVA/dual and my choppy Slovenian still needs practice. It�ll take some time and effort before I can find the right verbs to the respective nouns. Living together and understanding each other is like flipping to a fresh page in a notebook and the drafting of new chapters continue. Our different cultural backgrounds alleviate typical prejudice but we still frequently have to negotiate misunderstandings and differences. At the same time, there is more mutual understanding and warmth.
Experiences like this remind me of the equally mesmerizing world of photography. Every frame is, in fact, the most unique of moments. They are different characters in the story and also represent the �echoing of the concept of MIDVA/dual.� Every moment of �the two of us� refers to the two sides of the empty spaces of a puzzle that have already been reserved. The job of the photographer is to match the sides, points and faces of the missing pieces to their respective places. Like the familiar manner of a well-seasoned tailor and the airy footsteps of a feline, two worlds that belonged to different realities are connected by the click of the shutter through the dual form. The moment of the frozen frame is the testimony to �the two of us.� �MIDVA� is a concept between singular and plural. In the web of interconnected relationships everyone is familiar with; the other �dual form� appears and meticulously flushes out the different layers of relationships that precipitate. Me and pregnant Anja, me and the tree in the backyard, me and the passenger across from me but looking away, me holding the camera and the passenger�s reflection in the window, me and the soon-to-arrive baby, etc� Duals remind us of differing perspectives; those who observe and those who are being observed exist in wholly different worlds.
This is how we should treat photography and treat life. My training in Europe for the past few years has led me to firmly believe photography is my destiny and I look forward to incorporating photography into daily life. Humbly, I witness the shift in life; there is no second that is like any other. Every single detail is either condensed or diluted like a pile of star-like salt crystals on the second dimension of photo paper. The seemingly peaceful quadrilateral world has depths that extend into the abyss, all the way to the piece of bottomless reality under our feet.
Style is for others to discuss and what I document are the stories I wholeheartedly believe or words that always have me stumped. I choose to use this starting point for my photography and if I�m fortunate enough to have others deem this as art, I guess it is due to some strong ambition to always leave my mark on the paths I�ve chosen. But I�m not willing to delude myself into thinking these thoughts and I suppress the voice in my heart and tell myself that the tip of the iceberg is the entire iceberg�
Humans innately plant their feet firmly the ground and let their gaze sweep over what is before them when elevated, it�s just pure instinct. If you observe the crowds in museums, their facial expressions are full of the wonder a hiker would have standing on the peak of a mountain. Observations in my new life has only confirmed my hunch that the most heart-warming scenery is actually hidden in the easily believable habits that appear before our own eyes every morning. If we take the nominative �I� and fuse it with the MIDVA dual form and spend some time to find corresponding verbs, you�ll be surprised to discover, with just a slight change to seats in the audience, a whole new objective take on the time worn script and all-too familiar lines.
This is what I�m practicing during my days in the northern Balkan country of Slovenia. Through the accumulation of frames of images, not only do I record the special moments life offers but I uncover so much more of the world around me and I can reflect on life�s possibilities at the same time similar to my childhood passion for collecting stamps. I enjoy cultivating patience while collecting different combinations of dual forms/MIDVA and of course, settling down to plan a journey in the next phase of my life.
Cleaning one�s room and organizing one�s emotions both correspond to the same intuition. Both actions hope to clear out space, sweep away the dust and revel in the regained freshness; so we can slow down to read nature�s hints, collect essential information and let this ever rotating planet become more compassionate.
Dual forms have been the focal point of my new life in Slovenia. The anxiety of waiting is an emotion a photographer is constantly dealing with. I consider myself to be a patient person but there are two weeks left before our baby girl joins us. To be honest, I�ve never felt so uneasy and time suddenly seems to slow to a viscous crawl. When I repeatedly flip through the photos I took during the waiting period. I believe these abstract bits and pieces seem to be a simulation of an even more spectacular image. I do need time for my thoughts and emotions to settle and perhaps, only some time down the road, will it dawn on me that this is some sort of reminder. Answers are used to wearing a coat of questions like the four different seasons with both halcyon summers and snowy winters. We can�t be impatient; trying out voices to lull the baby to sleep seems to come more easily now. As I played with the wooden toys hanging over the crib, I wondered how our little girl will be able to sweetly advance Anja�s and my story to the next scene. Spring�s passionate celebration continued outside our window; the universe continues to move; the masses still silently admit there are only 24 hours in a day. By this time, the little ant had quietly moved the grain of sand to the bush ten centimeters away. I griped Anja�s hand, closed my eyes and tried to rewatch this movie. My movie; a little girl, humming a cheerful melody with strand of wooden toys in her hand, tugs on the edge of her mother�s red apron. The photographer reloads the camera with a new reel of film, the light noise continues. Their wispy shadows become brighter and sharper; their background is the different layers of green of a forest on a spring morning�
April 20, 2011
Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia
Simon Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, 1978.
Simon was first awarded the Slovenia Press Photo Awards in the best story category (people/sport) in 2011 and was honored again in 2012 and 2015. He also received the Kaohsiung Awards in 2011 and was twice awarded the Golden Tripod Awards in 2018 and 2020; these are two of the most prestigious contemporary art and book publication accolades in Taiwan. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries both in Europe ＆ Asia, including the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid (Spain), the National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Moscow (Russia), etc.
Awards 2021 “Shepherds and the Slaughterhouse” – 2nd place of the international photo contest, Rovinj Photodays 2021 (documentary), Rovinj, Croatia.
2020 “Scene of creativity” for Oneday Monthly - Golden Tripod Awards – The best column of the year, Taipei, Taiwan.
2019 “Shepherds and the Slaughterhouse” – Winning series of “The State of the World” photography competition - PX3 PRIX DE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS, Paris, France.
2018 “Fleeing from the Dark Side of the Moon” - Golden Tripod Awards – The best non-fiction publication of the year, Taipei, Taiwan.
2015 “Mixed Martial Arts” - The best reportage of the year (Sport) – Slovenia Press Photo 2015, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2015 “They / Ward 2” - Emerging Talent Jury Award – Eyetime 2013 photography competition, New York, USA.
2012 “Ashura” - 1st Prize of Eyetime 2012, New York, USA.
2012 “MIDVA 2010 - 2028” - Winner of 2012 Fotopub Festival Thursday Award, Novo Mesto, Slovenia.
2012 “A mei - R U Watching?” - 2nd prize of the Professional Advertising Category (Music) - PX3 PRIX DE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS, Paris, France.
2012 “Ashura” – 1st Prize of the Professional Press Category, PX3 PRIX DE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS, Paris, France.
2012 “Boxing Blues” – The best reportage of the year (Sport), Slovenia Press Photo 2012, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2012 “The Veterinarian” – The best reportage of the year (People), Slovenia Press Photo 2012, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2012 “PIECES”, 1st prize of the best Photography of the year 2012 / 18th EMZIN Photography competition, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2012 “MIDVA (Us two)”, 2nd prize of the best Photography of the year 2012 / 18th EMZIN Photography competition, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2011 “World Fight Champion 12” – The best reportage of the year (Sport), Slovenia Press Photo 2011, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2011 “MIDVA (Us two)” – The best reportage of the year (People), Slovenia Press Photo 2011, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2011 “Evaporation”, Kaoshuing Awards, Kaoshuing Museum of Fine Art
