Depictions of video-processed images of World War II and the Gulf War speaks of the emotional trauma felt in the mourning of the June 4th, 1989 incident. The unforgettable image of a student confronting a war tank is replaced by a dancer in front of his own shadow against the background of a scratchy super-8 projection. After the train is gone, sparks fall to the ground, without leaving behind a single trace. This video is a comment about the notions of the motherland, history, and war.

Ellen Pau, born in Hong Kong, began her art career while studying radiography at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, creating her first experimental super-8 film, The Glove. She co-founded Videotage in 1986 and received the Asia Cultural Council Fellowship in 1992, creating Song of the Goddess in the U.S. Her international career launched at the 1995 Gwangju Biennale, followed by exhibitions at “City on the Move”, Asia Pacific Triennial, Shanghai Biennale and Taipei Biennale. Since 1996, she has been a director at the Microwave International Media Art Festival. At the 2001 Venice Biennale, she presented Recycling Cinema. Recent exhibitions include Awakening: Art in Society in Asia 1960s–1990s (2019) at the National Gallery Singapore, What About Home Affairs (2019) at Para-site and Shape of Light at M+ Facade (2022). Her works are held in collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, M+, and Griffith University. The Asia Art Archive launched her archive in 2023.