A 9-minute and 29-second video with a split view showing an older woman on the left and a younger woman on the right. The older woman stands in front of greenery outside in traditional dress and motions with her hands, while the younger woman performs dance-like movements in a bamboo forest. A close-up view of a red horse’s face appears in the center of the screen, and then a close-up of the younger person holding bamboo and continuing to dance in the forest. Images of the horse continue to appear as the narrator tells a story of being young and riding a horse that kicked her afterward. Characters and subtitles label each section of the video with words like “hello,” “mother,” and “song.” Another split screen shows an older woman on the left and a younger woman on the right putting on theatrical makeup. The woman on the left sings while the woman on the right dances outside at night. The video ends with another character and a title screen that says “end.”


花和霧 flowers and fog is an intergenerational collaboration between Joy and Melissa using movement, voice, drag and storytelling — exploring diaspora, queerness and liberation. The project spans from 2021 (digital film collage/HD video) to 2023 (analog 35mm garden portraits of Joy by Melissa during a creative residency) to 2024 (their public performance debut) and beyond. Through performances and intergenerational creative devising workshop for artists or elders to attend with (or without) a loved one to explore movement, singing/drag and storytelling; this project aims to create a sense of possibility and imagination with one’s stories and nearest relations, by peering into the world Joy and Melissa create together.