Tramping to Dungku Asang, A Memoir 

We winded up along the bumpy forest road,
The scene ahead was shocking, we stomp our feet
It was a naked mountain cutting into a colossal trapezoid over the years,
Its atrovirens flesh continued to rupture with red blood.

The exhibition Dungku Asang was curated by artist Labay Eyong. She invited artists to drape the weaving work on top of the gigantic mine, the gesture symbolized dressing and wrapping the wound of the mountain. The main venue of the exhibition is located at the Rui-Shing quarry in Mt. Tsunkuan. The hinterland of the mine was originally the Bunun’s traditional territory called Dungku Asang. "Dungku '' refers to a place that swells on the terrain, and "Asang '' refers to the hometown. 

Father Chen Chunguang once said that “Dungku Asang is the place where one will return, after crossing the upheaval”. His words drew my attention. As it suggested the tortuous odyssey of hope, for we who have the feeling of displacement.

Between tradition and modernity, there lies the course of loss and search. For artists returning to their community, they often reexamine their bodily and corporal inheritance. In the traditional Truku and pan-Atayal societies, excelling in hunting and weaving are their life goals to pursue, these skills weighed significantly in the community. A girl must be good at weaving to become a real woman. 
 

Hence, Dungku Asang is a collective performance. It involved Weaving Road Trips bringing the weavers from different communities together. By quilt weaving, also called Gabang, people may reconnect themselves with the mountains. In addition, their stories, personal characters, life traces, as well as their own messages towards the community and the land, can be told through their woven textures.

The creative practices of an exhibition are like the exploration process of an expedition. One would contemplate the personal inner experience as well as the empath experience. One would also knit the warp and weft of the natural space through the bodily practice. Subsequently, one can ultimately find their path of return through weaving. In that event, she or he would reconstruct the metaphors of the cultural representation and resistance; and further reflect on Taiwan Indigenous people’s history, surroundings, aesthetics, and their codependent relationships with nature. As a result, Dungku Asang heals not only the mountains but also the participants themselves.

At last, I seem to be able to get some resolutions from their conversations.
For a real weaver, "I weave, therefore I am." Positioning oneself is no longer a problem. Though people cannot step in the same river twice, our will can lead us to cross the upheaval, and we would be able to return to the places, where we thought we could never return.