Finding God through colorization

Once a promising photographic talent who raked in awards at home and abroad, Chi Guo-chang (紀國章) fell into the abyss of clinical depression in 2000 when his works of traditional photography faced a challenge from digital media. The choice between devoting himself to the art of photography or remaining a reluctant photo-journalist severely concerned Chi. In a state of inner unrest, Chi wandered through the streets of Paris, Venice and Mykonos until the summer of 2002, when he returned to Taipei, where he finally found the solution to his dilemma in God.

Chi's Impression Vitrine exhibition, the first since his convalescence, consists of 32 photos he took around this time, and computer-manipulated last year. These photos, mostly of shop windows in various European cities, are also the 40-year-old photographer's reflection on his roles as photographer and photo-journalist.

"Every picture in this series is the memento of an experience of my life, or an expression of my imagination. My hopes and cravings are reflected on paper through the medium of the camera," Chi said.

In one photo of a Paris shop window, a faceless mannequin in a black overcoat stands forlorn against a starkly pale curtain. In another, taken in Venice, a headless mannequin and its surrounding flower-patterned accessories are shaded in over-saturated pink. Chi toned up some of the colors to tip the originally well-composed images out of their meticulous

balance.

Many of them appear moody and sometimes disturbing. The underside of the cosmopolitan glamor is thus seen through the eyes of Chi, at the time eking out a living as a fashion-show

photographer.

Other works in the exhibition, of various windows taken in more idyllic environments, seem to shine with a strong sense of hope through the constant presence of saturated rainbow colors, created with Photoshop. Traveling in the Greek countryside, Chi was captivated by the sight of a hotel building covered in the light of sunset. Chi colorized the photo to create a sense of serenity and bliss. Rainbows also surround the dawning sky over a public plaza in Italy, shot through a fisheye lens. The viewer almost feels that he or she is ascending toward heaven.

If Chi captured these secular images as a tormented soul, he seems to have Photoshopped them as an uplifted Christian.

"When a person's spirituality is growing, his or her creativity grows with it. I don't believe that artists should loiter around and live their lives just for fun. Artistic creation is the cross he or she has to carry," Chi said.