Charlene Shih
Past Artist In Residence
2006

Multimedia Artist Charlene Shih melds family photos with city landscape, Chinese calligraphy with free-flowing forms in impressionist animated works that cross cultural boundaries, exploring symbolism with heart. During her residency at 18th Street, she interviewed artists and others in the Los Angeles community to extract L.A. flavor. Ms. Shih wrote and directed the documentary, “Spirit Talk,” for National Geographic Channel about death rituals in Taiwan, to be broadcast this fall. Her film “Woman,” (1999) begins with two characters in Chinese calligraphy that slowly become animated, flying figures. This film won Grand Prize at the Taipei Film Festival that year, and was also named Best Experimental Film at the New York Shorts International Film Festival, and Best Animation at the Golden Harvest Film Festival (2000), held at Singapore Subspace Gallery. Her latest work is a combination of live-action, documentary, and animation entitled “Papa Blue,” (2003) poetically depicts the struggle of a daughter and father with depression.