©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 預產期前一天，2001。(The day before I was due to give birth, 2001), from The Mother as a Creator

Artist Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1972. She received her PhD in Art from the University of Brighton in the UK and is currently an assistant professor at National Dong Hwa University. Her artworks have gone viral and prompted numerous reports and great interest abroad. “In these photos, Wang asserts her active role in the making of another life, reframing motherhood as a grand creative endeavor,” approved by The New Yorker. She also garnered appreciation from the BBC who said her works “change and transcend the cliché of motherhood.”

Wang is internationally renowned. In recent years, she has been invited to exhibit at various international photography festivals and large-scale art exhibitions in many countries. For example, she has participated in the Festival Images Vevey in Switzerland, the International Festival of photography in Australia, the AIPAD in New York and the Paris Photo in Paris. Moreover, her works are part of the collections at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (Houston, U.S.), the Getty Center (Los Angeles, U.S.), the George Eastman Museum (Rochester, U.S.), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, U.S.), the Harry Rison Center (Austin, U.S.), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, U.S.), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, U.S.), Victoria and Albert Museum (UK) and Tainan Museum of Art (Taiwan), among others.

IG：@artanniewang

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 兒子的腳裹著石膏, 2003。(My son’s leg in a cast, 2003), from The Mother as a Creator

The Mother as a Creator

Like an artist, the Mother is wise in her creation. The Mother not only creates a life, but also fosters a continuous matrix of experiences between Mother and Child. Motherhood is a long-term journey full of a myriad of complex feelings. This complexity cannot be expressed solely by saccharine images of Mother and Child, nor by the image of the Mother Incarnate willingly sacrificing herself for the sake of her children. All of these stereotypes of Motherhood are for me a tedious, unavoidable harangue which offers me no consolation. It is from this sentiment that I derive the original motivation for this series.

Since getting pregnant in 2000, I have grappled with physical pains of pregnancy and the fear of losing my sense of self. To address this, I turned to art as a way to preserve my sense of self during motherhood. From recording how in the beginning the Mother had lost her sense of self, to the notion of constantly creating, I sought to reconcile my dual roles as both Mother and artist, aiming to express a complex, diverse, and creative vision of Motherhood. I am confident that “The Mother as a Creator” series, which took twenty years to complete, not only demonstrates that the Mother can maintain her sense of self, but also shows that creativity can challenge many of the myths associated with Motherhood.

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 慶祝聖誕節，2004。(Celebrating Christmas, 2004), from The Mother as a Creator

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 用功，2006。(Hard at work, 2006), from The Mother as a Creator

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 遷移與不安，2010。(The move; uncertainty, 2010) , from The Mother as a Creator

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 築夢，2011。(Making dreams, 2011), from The Mother as a Creator

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 一樣高，2014。(At the same height, 2014), from The Mother as a Creator

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 為自由而爭辯，2018。(Arguing for freedom, 2018) from The Mother as a Creator

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 遠距關係，2020。(Long-distance relationship, 2020) ,from The Mother as a Creator

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 50歲生日快樂」，2022。(Happy 50th Birthday, 2022) ,from The Mother as a Creator

創作自述: 我的兒子和我一樣高   / 汪曉青

My Son and I at the Same Height   / Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang

我以我的身高作為基準，與兒子一起找尋能站起來一樣高的日常場景拍照。從2002年至2025年，這組作品已拍攝了23年， 並計畫以每年一張的進度繼續拍下去。這些母子照，除了紀錄了我們一起「一樣高」的努力成果外，更在時間的推演下，猶如書寫個人史般，再現了我們的日常、成長與關係的變化，這如遊戲、如教育的持續性藝術行為，是提醒自己與孩子，平等與互為尊重不是輕而易舉就能得到的，而是需要刻意時時察覺且一起持續實踐的。20多年來，每每看著這些能一一顯現出我們成長的照片，常常讓我感動不已。兒子從稚嫩到茁壯，而我也漸漸朝向衰老。如縮影般的影像，留下了我們在生命之流中平凡身影的變化，也留下我們一起共有的人生故事。對我，這是無比的珍貴。

With my height as a reference point, I found places in our daily lives where my son and I could take photos and be at the same height. Over the 23 years (2002 to 2025) which these artworks spanned, I planned to take one photo a year. As if writing a personal history, these mother-son photos not only recorded the fruits of our labors in trying to be “at the same height”, they also reconstructed the changes in our daily lives and relationship as we grew together. This continuous artistic expression was much like a game and a lesson, reminding my son and me that achieving equality and mutual respect was not an easy task; it required intentional and constant awareness. As 21 years have passed, I get choked up each time I look at these photos of our growth. From tender and soft to sturdy and strong, my son grew. Meanwhile, I continued to age. Like microform images, these photos project the changes of our silhouettes in the flow of life, as well as the life stories we shared. To me, this is priceless.

整個系列作品的第一張是來自於偶然，2002年兒子正學習走路，他在我攙扶下於矮牆上行走，一樣高的互動，帶給我們無比的喜悅，於是請丈夫拍下這值得紀念的一刻，就如平常的家庭照般。然而這張照片放大後，影像中的「一樣高」每每成為我凝視下既開心又憂愁的刺點，於是我開始探討這個重要卻不明的感受。

The first photo in this artwork series was but happenstance. It was 2002 and my son was learning to walk. He was walking upon a short wall as I supported him with my arm. Our interaction at the same height provided us an indescribable happiness, and so I asked my husband to take this family photo during a moment worth documenting. After I enlarged the photo, I became fixated on the image of being “at the same height”, which brought me both happiness and sorrow. Thus began my exploration into this important, yet nondescript feeling.

「一樣高」讓我憶起自己還是小女孩時常站在不同物品上，跟父母玩比身高的欣喜。如果能找到一樣高時，就覺得自己可以暫時用大人的視野看到不同於小孩的大世界，這是一種對長大的殷切期盼。但後來因自己進入青春期並和母親真正的一樣高後，開始切身體會到當時社會在傳統父權價值觀下，造成女性卑微的種種。而這些卑微非女人能力不夠，而是女人的附屬地位早已被訂定。例如: 女人一生必須跟隨她的男人；若女人生不出男性後代，將受夫家終身歧視；女生在職業選擇上有著種種限制、男女生教養的資源不均等等。對我而言，成長是換來明白社會對女人的差別待遇與限制，一種無奈與悲憤感不自覺的在看到這樣具成長喜悅的「一樣高」中油然而生。這交雜的感受，促使身為藝術家和母親的我，展開一個用家庭照式的長期攝影計劃，試圖從私領域中慢慢的在與小孩不斷成長中，翻轉這些造成種種不愉快的傳統性別概念。

Being “at the same height” reminded me of the joy of standing on various objects as a little girl to play with my parents. When I got to their height, it felt like I could see the big, wide world ever so briefly from the point of view of an adult. From this stemmed an eagerness to grow up. But upon entering puberty, when I actually grew to the same height as my mother, I experienced for myself the inferior status of women in a society mired by traditional patriarchal values. To be sure, this lowly status was not because women were incompetent, but rather because they had long been assigned a subsidiary position in society. Examples of this include women needing to follow men their whole lives; if a woman cannot birth a son, they will suffer lifelong discrimination from the husband’s family; women having many limitations on what careers they can choose; and men and women not being afforded equal resources in education. To me, I traded my growth for an awareness of the unequal treatment and limitations placed on women by society. A sense of helplessness and bitterness naturally grew out of seeing the image of being “at the same height”, an image which also exhibited the joys of growing up. This storm of emotions urged me, as an artist and a mother, to embark on this long-term family photo project in an attempt to use events from my private life with my son to slowly overturn these traditional gender values which have caused so much suffering.

我嘗試以我與兒子間視覺上的「一樣高」，來表達我對於兒子在對待性別議題上的期許。我認為在臺灣傳統上享有優勢的男性長子身份的他，擁有平等且互為尊重的態度，顯得特別重要。我不希望他因自己的性別而自大自傲或充滿責任的壓力，更不希望我體驗到的男高女低的性別差別待遇，在他那一代繼續發生。當兒子超越我的身高時，換我們一起尋找讓我可以跟他一樣高的場景來拍攝，這代表身為媽媽的我，不放棄學習與成長，仍然重視我們互為尊重的母子關係。它同時也提醒自己不可倚老賣老，需要放下身段看看並參與屬於兒子的新時代。

Here, I try to use images of my son and me being “at the same height” to express my hopes for how he would treat topics related to gender. As he is a male and eldest child in a Taiwanese society where these traits reign supreme, I believe maintaining an impartial and respectful attitude towards gender-related issues is especially important. I do not wish for him to be either pretentious or pressured by responsibilities due to his gender, and I especially do not want the idea which I experienced of “men being superior to women” to persist into his generation. When my son passed me in height, we then needed to find places where we could take a photo so I could then get to his height. This meant that as a mother I would not give up learning and growing, and would continue to value our mother-son relationship which we had built upon mutual respect. It was also a reminder that I should not assume I was superior to him because of my age, and that I needed to humble myself and observe and participate in my son’s new generation.

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 1Y02M (24 Aug 2002) 在厚福的租屋前，英國。 In front of our rented flat in Hove Park Villas. Hove, UK. from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 2Y10M (8 Apr 2004) 在厚福家的大門前，英國。 Outside the front door of 26 Hove Park Villas. Hove, UK., from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 5Y3M (6 Sep 2006) 在我們的廚房中一起煮飯和整理，英國。 In the kitchen where we cooked and cleaned up together. Hove, UK., from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, NO.15 : 9Y06M (31 Dec 2010) 在花蓮石梯坪迎準備接 新年，台灣。 Welcoming a new year at the Stone Stairs Platform. Hualien, Taiwan., from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 11Y07M (1 Jan 2013) 走不同條路上花蓮美崙山，台灣。 Taking a different route at Mt. Meilun. Hualien, Taiwan. , from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 13Y03M (8 Sep 2014) 在國立東華大學的攝影棚拍一樣高，花蓮，台灣。 At the NDHU studio capturing us at the same height. Hualien, Taiwan, from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 15Y6M (1 Jan 2017) 新年到美麗的東華大學校園走走，台灣。 Walking around the beautiful NDHU campus on New Year’s. Hualien, Taiwan. , from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 19Y07M (18 Feb 2021) 冠狀病毒仍肆虐全球，帶著口罩探訪我20年前結婚之地-中泰賓館，現已改建為台北文華東方酒店，台灣。 My Son and I at the Same Height No.26: The coronavirus was still raging around the world. We wore masks to visit the place where I got married 20 years ago – Zhongtai Hotel, which has now been converted into Mandarin Oriental Taipei, Taiwan. , from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 22Y02M (5 Aug 2023) 兒子就快要從台北的大學畢業了，於是我們決定在代表台北的101大樓前，找尋到一樣高的地點，留下規劃前往下一階段的搜尋樣貌，台灣。 My son was about to graduate from university in Taipei, so we decided to find a place where he could stand at the same height in front of The Taipei 101 Tower that represents Taipei. And took a picture , from My Son and I at the Same Height

©Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang, 23Y01M (18 July 2024) 0403大地震讓世界級觀光景點太魯閣因山崩而閉園五年，這讓花蓮的經濟嚴重受傷。於太魯閣牌樓和山的大傷口前，我與兒子手持樹苗，想與大地重植希望，台灣。 The 0403 earthquake caused the world-class tourist attraction Taroko to be closed for five years due to landslides, which severely damaged Hualien’s economy. In front of the Taroko archway and the huge wound on the mountain, my son and I held saplings in our hands, wanting to replant hope with the earth. Hualien, Taiwan. , from My Son and I at the Same Height