29.5.10

Photo Exhibit at Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia
Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia (snapshot of the original)


Today, with the torrential rain battering all of Taiwan and definitely Taipei, we decided to head off to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum on Chung Shan North Road (中山北路). They had some paid exhibits but since we were there with our niece Charlene and Queenie's Mom, we decided to just enjoy the free exhibits in the basement and on the second and third floor. The second floor didn't have much as one of the exhibits was cancelled. The third floor was also fairly limited since a fairly large exhibit was still being setup so there really wasn't much to see. However, the photo exhbition on the third floor was stunning.


Photo Exhibit
Photo Exhibit


The exhibit featured pictures from Shanghai in the early 1940s and a lot of pictures around Taipei and Taiwan in the early to mid 20th century. All the pictures were in black and white and the subjects, you can tell, were carefully selected. These pictures were taken before the cheap, low cost happy-snappy era of digital photography where photographers had to really think about their shots and what picture they were going to take.

What was especially special was walking through the exhibit with Queenie's mother who could relate to a lot of what was in those pictures. Many of the pictures in Taiwan were taken during her early childhood. She could relate to the images of mothers carrying children on their backs while fetching water (her mom did that with her) and to the way the kids played games with stones (their only toys). Seeing those images really brings out the stark reality of the poverty of post-War Taiwan and how Taiwan is really one of the developing world's economic miracles. When I see how Queenie's parents grew up in those pictures, and see the life their children and grandchildren now have, it is a vast, vast difference. As foreigners we hear about the Taiwan economic miracle, but this exhibit provides a template (however limited) against which we can compare modern Taiwan to its past.


Queenie's Mom Shares a Story
Queenie's Mom Shares a Story

Although photography is strictly forbidden in the museum (and we don't normally disrespect the rule), we managed to steal a few snapshots (with the flash off) of some of the pictures to share with you. However we do recommend you go along to the museum to see the pictures for yourself. You won't be disappointed, especially since its free. And if you can, go there with someone who lived through that era on the island, it will be very enlightening for you.


Festival of Lord Dazhong in Shinjuang

These pictures were from the Festival of Lord Dazhong in Shinjuang. As per the description in the Museum: "The Festival of Lord Dazhong,, Sinjuang series, a collaboration with Chen Chi-lu from National Taiwan University, features precious images of a mixture of Buddhist and Taoist beliefs handed down by the Hakka culture in Southern Taiwan such as worshippers pleasing guilty and asking the gods' forgiveness, women wearing self-made cangues on their necks as a votive gesture, and the officials in charge of life and death, generals, carriages and instruments oof punishment in front of the Lord Dazhong." (Chien Yun-ping)

All the images below are snapshots of the orignals in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. We didn't take them.


P1090098
Lord Dazhong Festival - Swordsmen

P1090099
Lord Dazhong Festival - Woman with Cangue on her Neck

P1090097
Lord Dazhong Festival - Dancer

P1090096
Lord Dazhong Festival - Parade

P1090102
Lord Dazhong Festival - Masked Man


Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia


The other exhibit that just blew us away was the Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia exhibit. As per the Musuem description: "In these religious and spiritual works, Chang Tsai used the panorama to photograph the devout worshippers pouring in to witness the gods touring the district. The wide-angle close-ups of the figures highlighted the inner emotions of t ordinary people attending temple festivals, suggesting a profound sense of identification and acceptance." (Chien Yun-ping). Queenie's mother added that she has seen the festival and that there is a great deal of competition between people to see who has the biggest pig. She personally thinks the festival is brutal and actually feels sorry for the pigs.

All the images below are snapshots of the orignals in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. We didn't take them.


Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia

Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia

Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia

Sacrificial Pig Festival - Sanxia

P1090105

P1090104


Random Pictures

A couple of random pictures that really caught my eye are below.

All the images below are snapshots of the orignals in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. We didn't take them.


Teenage Girls in Tainan
Teenage Girls in Tainan

White Egrets
White Egrets

Spectators Watch Sports
Spectators Watch Sports from a Tree


There were many more wonderful pictures of old Shanghai and the aboriginal people in Taiwan. If you love photography and are interested in old pictures. Or interested in the history of Taiwan and China, we highly recommend you get down to the museum to see this exhibit. The pictures are amazing. I am not sure how much longer the exhibit will be up. You could call them to find out, but it is worth the trip, especially since its free. Its best to end this post with what one of the photographers said: "The places I taveled to over the past three years have been visited by thousands of photographers before. That is why I felt a kind of pressure when taking the pictures. In terms of social documentary and landscape photography, I tried my best to produce and capture something new. My personal concept of photography is to take straight photograps to recor what to me are new visual impressions. Ying Xin 1987-1989" (Chung Tsai).

As always, we look forward to your comments. Thanks for reading.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous02 June, 2010

    Brilliant photos! Thanks for this post.
    -TBC

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are welcome for the post. Yeah, I liked the pictures too. If I could take pictures like that I would be happy. Just don't have the patience to learn really. Thanks for reading and commenting. Much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete

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