“Disappearance marks not an end, but a beginning.”
Mooni Perry’s „Missing“ traces the trajectory of a journey across Taiwan in 2024. Evolving from research conducted for a video work, this book unfolds as a sensory archive and speculative inquiry into female Taoist communities, displaced sanctity, marginalized mythologies, and the missing body. Guided by spiritual figures such as Mazu, Guanyin, and the Seven Fairies, Perry weaves together field research, fictional fragments, poetic reflection, and visual stills into a rich, multi-layered constellation.
The book interlaces temple visits, interpretations of ritual and myth, oral history interviews, encounters with local women practitioners, and atmospheric documentation of sacred sites. This practice extends beyond conventional research, posing a sustained question: How can missing be recorded without the desire to restore or retrieve?
Instead of offering resolution, „Missing“ invites readers into the emotional topography of being lost. It is not a search for someone, but a journey undertaken without knowing what has gone missing. In this sense, “disappearance” becomes a generative state from which futurity might emerge.
Writers
Mooni Perry
Shih-yu Hsu
N̂g Bo̍k-siông
Script
Yan Lin
Mooni Perry
Interviewee
Lee Fong-mao
Translator (Korean to English)
Chaeyoung Kim
Local Storytellers in Taiwan
N̂g Bo̍k-siông
Fiber Chang Hsin Ting
Atalanta Chang
Tarot Cards Writer
Hyejeong Yun
Tarot Cards Illustrator
Saitemiss
Lithography
Jan Scheffler
Among many, special thanks to
Peng Chi-yuan
Kristina Scepanski
Mazu (媽祖) and Tshit-niû-má (七娘媽)
Editor: You Feng
Design: Sam Kim
Size: 120 x 170 mm
ColorPage: 280
Including a folded paper house poster and 10 tarot cards
Published by
– Common Imprint, Berlin
– Mediabus, Seoul
– Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
Published in April 2025
Language: English
