創作者介紹｜Lihan Umaw 游恩恩
來自花蓮三笠山部落的太魯閣族，現居高雄，就讀於高雄師範大學跨領域研究所。成長於當代城市環境的他，透過身體創作回返族群文化，並以自身生命經驗為起點，持續探問身體、性別與文化之間的交織關係。擅長以身體作為創作媒介，熱愛表演，擁有十年變裝演出經驗。進入研究所後，其創作由舞蹈延伸至結合行為藝術的實驗形式，核心聚焦於族群與（跨）性別雙重認同交錯下的生命經驗，開展更為開放且辯證的身體敘事。
節目名稱｜《ptasan泥輪廓》
「ptasan」在太魯閣族語境中意指「印記」。刻在臉上的文面，是一個人經歷試煉後取得身分、被族群承認的象徵。文面超越裝飾的層次，它把身體與歷史、族群與祖靈連在一起，成為存在於世界上的證明。《ptasan 泥輪廓》以太魯閣族的文面起源傳說為創作文本。傳說中，世界初始只有一對兄妹，為了延續族群血脈，妹妹策畫多次欺瞞與偽裝。她告訴哥哥，在山腳溪流旁，有一位臉上塗滿黑色圖紋的陌生女子正在等待。每當哥哥下山，妹妹便走向溪流，以河床黑泥塗抹自己的臉，化身成另一個「人」，讓哥哥放下禁忌與戒心，血脈就在這樣反覆的遮蔽與轉換中延續。這則傳說把偽裝與生存綁在一起，覆滿泥土的臉，承載的是讓生命繼續的方法，是在困境中誕生的身體技術。我將這個傳說與自己跨性經驗交織在一起，在現實社會裡，偽裝、修飾、通過（passing）常被視為壓力與負擔；但對我而言，那也是一套讓自己得以呼吸與行走的方式。如同傳說中的妹妹，我用身體構築一個他人得以辨識、得以靠近的樣貌，在其中換取移動、親密與存活的空間。《ptasan 泥輪廓》把這樣的經驗轉化為當代的文面實踐。我不使用刺針與染液，而是泥土、行為與身體，在臉與皮膚上描繪流動的輪廓。那些痕跡不追求單一而固定的身分，而是在傳說與現實、族群與性別之間持續變形。
我在這次的創作中提問：
像我（們）這樣的人，能否透過藝術為自己文下一種面？那個文面的暫時性會多久？而那樣的圖紋如何成為更自由自己？
Artist Introduction｜Lihan Umaw
Lihan Umaw is a Truku artist from the Bgurah Branaw (Sanzhishan) community in Hualien, currently based in Kaohsiung and pursuing studies in the Graduate Institute of Transdisciplinary Art of National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU).Having the background of growing up in an urban environment, Lihan return to her Indigenous cultural roots through embodied artistic practice. Starting from personal life experiences, Lihan’s work continually explores the intertwined relationships between body, gender, and culture.Working primarily with the body as a creative medium, Lihan has a deep passion for performance and over ten years of experience in drag performance. Since entering graduate school, Lihan’s practice has expanded from dance into experimental forms that incorporate performance art. Her recent works focus on life experiences shaped by the intersection of Indigenous identity and (trans)gender identity, developing an open and critical narrative of the body.
Program Title ｜Becoming Through Mud
In the Truku cultural context, ptasan refers to an imprint. The facial tattoos carved onto the skin mark the moment when a person, having undergone trials, attains identity and recognition within the community.More than ornamentation, these tattoos bind the body to history, the individual to the collective, and the living to the ancestors. They become a visible proof of one’s existence in the world.ptasan: Earthen Contours draws upon the Truku origin myth of facial tattooing as its creative text. According to the tale, at the beginning of the world there existed only a brother and a sister. In order to continue the lineage of their people, the sister devised repeated acts of deception and disguise.She told her brother that near a stream at the foot of the mountain, a mysterious woman with black patterns covering her face was waiting for him. Each time the brother descended the mountain, the sister would walk to the stream and smear the dark mud from the riverbed across her face, transforming herself into another “person.” Through this disguise, the brother’s concerns and hesitation dissolved, and the lineage of their people continued through repeated acts of concealment and transformation.In this tale, disguise becomes inseparable from survival. The mud-covered face carries the knowledge of how life continues—a bodily technique born from necessity, shaped within moments of crisis.In this tale, disguise becomes inseparable from survival. A face covered in mud carries the means through which life continues—a bodily technique born out of necessity in times of hardship.I weave this story together with my own experience as a transgender. In this society, disguise, modification, and passing are often regarded as sources of pressure or burden. Yet for me, they are also ways that allow me to breathe and move through the world. Like the sister in the tale, I use my body to construct a form that others can recognize and approach—through it, I negotiate spaces for movement, intimacy, and survival.ptasan: Earthen Contours transforms this experience into a practice of tattooing. Instead of needles and ink, I use mud, actions, and the body itself to trace shifting contours across the face and skin. These marks do not pursue a single, fixed identity; rather, they continuously transform between myth and reality, between indigeneity and gender.
Through this work, I wonder:
Can people like us inscribe a face of our own through art?
How long might such a temporary tattoo remain?
And how might these patterns become a way of inhabiting ourselves more freely?
Creative & Production Team 創作/製作群
Artist 創作者｜Lihan Umaw 游恩恩
Performer 表演者｜Lihan Umaw 游恩恩
Guest Performer 客席演出｜ Tanivu 陳美花（珊珠牙工坊）、姐妹們 Tanivu Shanzhuya Workshop, and Sisters
Arts Administration 藝術行政｜ Umaw Kowbu 賴仲軒
Lighting Design 燈光設計｜楊淳安 YANG,CHUN-AN
Stage Crew 舞台工作人員｜楊宗樺 YANG,ZONG-HUA
Learn More 延伸閱讀：
➤ Article 專訪｜Lihan Umaw 游恩恩
