Artist Statement

“Suān suān tián tián, in Chinese, means "sour sour sweet sweet." The phrase is the title of several saccharin pop songs popular in Taiwan and China; and commonly, it's a phrase describing a flavour whose metaphor extends to matters of the heart. My photographic senses are drawn to intimate, ordinary scenes that are belied by a note of ambiguous tension.

I spent a year living on the island of Taiwan. As an outsider, all I can attest is to my everyday experience. Perhaps under the influence of an on-going cultural adjustment, the days vacillated from gloomy to bright, from grey utility to colourful superfluity, from a droning monotony to a sporadic, exotic festivity. I hope that the photographed moments epitomize how the sour and sweet -- or choose your opposing forces -- are always in operation on the everyday, even beyond these Taiwan moments. The idea is to embrace their combination.”

Hannah Pierce-Carlson

Artist Bio

Hannah Pierce-Carlson is a language teacher, student, traveller and, where those inspirations converge, an artist. She has formally studied geography, geosciences and creative writing.

 She has lived, worked, and travelled (by bicycle) in East Asia and various places in the United States. As of 2011, returns to China to teach and create with Michael Julius, her artistic partner and husband.

For further information please see www.gofeetgo.tv