SHIU JUI TSZ

A Day of Sick Leave
病假
2025

The purpose of sick leave is to provide individuals with physical illness or injury a period of recovery and adjustment. However, as an unverifiable personal condition, illness often becomes a tacitly accepted means of escape. For artist Jui-Tsz Shiu, sick leave has, since her school years, served as a temporary way to evade reality and suspend everyday responsibilities. The value granted by sick leave, as well as the anticipation before it arrives, often exceeds that of regular vacations. It carries a sense of luck, allowing the artist to feel as if she has “gained an extra day" — a feeling of lightness and freedom from the constraints of institutions and labor.

At the same time, sick leave also involves deception and pretense. Within this reasonable and credible disguise, the artist attempts to balance responsibility and resistance. This exhibition begins with the artist’s personal experiences and perceptions of sick leave, exploring how it shapes her imagination of profession, discipline, the body, and time.

病假的目的是提供身體有傷病狀況的個體一段復原與調理的時間。然而，傷病作為一種難以驗證的個人狀態，使得病假時常成為一種默許的逃脫手段。對於藝術家許芯慈而言，病假是自學齡時期以來，一種短暫逃離現實、暫停日常責任的方式。病假所賦予的價值以及尚未到來前的想像都比一般休假來得更多，它伴隨著一種僥倖的心態，讓藝術家能有「賺到一天」的感受，一種從體制與勞動中暫時抽離的輕盈與自由。

病假同時也有著欺騙及假裝的狀態，在合理與可信的偽裝中，藝術家試圖協調責任與反抗的平衡。此展覽將從藝術家對病假的經驗與感受出發，思考病假如何牽動她對職業、規訓、身體與時間的想像。