Revival Malady

Revival Malady is based on family photographs found by the artist in the ruins of Fuxing New Village, a former military dependents’ village in Kaohsiung. Removed from their original contexts and returned to the sites where the photographs were taken, the figures become protagonists in newly constructed narratives that revisit the village’s history.

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The film moves through the demolition of Fuxing New Village. Portraits of soldiers, children holding guns, ruined alleyways, burst water pipes, burning grass, and shattered glass together form a landscape of disappearance. In the final scene, the residents in the photographs are crushed by demolition machinery, a visual violence that suggests the village and its people could vanish as if they had never existed. The name “Fuxing” (Revival), with all its literal meaning and political aspirations, ultimately becomes a dream left behind in history.