EXHIBITION /
Friday, September 3, 2021 to Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Category: Visual Arts and Documentary
Venue: Online

Curator: Huang Ching-Ying

After the 1990s, contemporary artists who have Indigenous backgrounds in Taiwan developed their own practice methods. They tried to be rooted again in their own Indigenous community or in a certain territory, by actively linking the material conditions, historical events, and collective memory of the place together. Their art practices thus were often initiated by the return of the body,  by rebuilding the relationship between their body and the earth, and by sharing such an affinity between the community members, or with others in the extended kinship. Between the mountains and the coast, the taluan (studio) scattered like star clusters is evidence of this trend. In addition to the prominent features mentioned above, some of the Indigenous contemporary artists in Taiwan have recently chosen to take their creative path with papers, pens, and cameras.  As a way to act and participate in the network, the artists remap the nodes and paths, suture the scattered, fragmented stories together,  in an attempt to conjure a new resonance field.

Among the practices of these actants, the happenings of each contact are prioritized more than the act of production. Hewen a ta:in tawtawazay as the initiator of the project "lohizaw: Returning to the Migration Route of SaySiyat", has been returning to her patrilineal descent since 2015. Through tracking and visiting her ancestors’ migration routes, Hewen immersed herself at the scene of historical, ethnic, and identity conflicts in this ever-evolving project. Through such an act, Hewen supplemented her family narrative, while at the same time constructed a collective field. This field embodied the continuous and cross-ethnic experiences and served as a premeditative place where creative work happens. In the course of action, there are ensuing cooperations, interventions, and projections emanated from diverse perspectives, which make it more of a reconstruction project on the cross-ethnical psychogeography, in contrast to the study of historical facts made by literary and historical workers. 

Posak Jodian also adapts the above creative tendencies. Xiaobitan and Fata'an are communities living alongside the riverbank, Posak traced the myths and the living memories of these communities while filming  "Lakec(2018)"  and "Lakec: A Very Simple River(2020)", outlining their migratory path within Taiwan. Posak then traveled with Malaysian artist Jeffrey Lim, navigated the Austronesian territories on the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and expanded her research itinerary with the migration paths of these riverside communities. The two videos are a cross-examination between immigrants and Indigenous identities, while the filming process also constitutes the space for their boundless interactions. As the artist’s horizons emerge on the move, these works push contemporary Indigenous art towards a relational model and present a more complex archetype than the narratives towards rerooting.

In our online exhibition, we chose to present the work log, the photographs of the site survey, and the hand-made maps created by the two young female artists/actants. We chose to show the working method, or the “backstage” of hewen a ta:in tawtawazay and Posak Jodian’s creative experiences, highlighting the happenings of unresolved conversations, unsettled mysteries, pending translations, and all the fortuitous turning points on their research paths. We also try to include the transformations of the artists after their explorations in the mountains and rivers. After the exhibition of their respective projects and the screening of their documentaries, we invited the two artists to reflect on the details of their working process. Through the reiteration of their hand-drawn map, we could be brought to the relational ties within the network. Those drawn lines on the map are not only symbolizing the roads but also representing the narratives articulated by numerous perspectives and travels. These illustrated lines are crocheting and stitching the artists with the worlds.

 

Artists / 
hewen a ta:in tawtawazay《lohizaw：Returning to the Migration Route of SaySiyat》
Posak Jodian《Lakec》

Curator /  Huang Ching-Ying 
Co-Curator /  Chiang Cheng-Hua (Sera)

Executive Editor /  Chiang Cheng-Hua (Sera) 
Assistant Editor /  Cheng Liwei
Translator / Lee Tzu Tung  Chiang Cheng-Hua (Sera)
Technical Assistance / Denise Wu

Part of this content first publishing on ACT, Art Critique of Taiwan, Vol. 85, April, 2021
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