"I am not highly educated. I just use my camera to observe people and things. It doesn't have to appear `artistic,'" was Chang Tsai's (張
The 71 works in Classic Chang Tsai -- the Unreleased Photos, (遺
PHOTO COURTESY OF TIVAC
A series of photos of egrets taken in Taipei's Guandu at sunset are the most beautiful works in the exhibition. According to Chang Tsai's son, the two set out from their home before every sunset and rode to the water front with their Leica and several makeshift lenses, which were unsuited for wildlife photography, and spent a good few hours patiently waiting for their subjects.
Chang always captured them in their most serene and confident posture against a background of amazingly geometrical tree branches. These small-format prints have acquired a sense of mystique over time, as flood water and moisture made white marks on the paper that look like passing clouds or reflections on rivers.
Tao Aborigines on Orchid Island are the subjects of another enduring series taken in the 1940s. At a time well before the commercialization of their pristine environment, Tao men and women let Chang record their daily life and take their portraits, sometimes in exchange for just a few Taiwan-made cigarettes. They look diligent yet contented with their lifestyle. A photo of a lone Tao man carrying a small pot of drinking water to his shed implies the Tao's easy-going attitude to life that is worlds away from the current tourism-driven islands.
Chang was one of the first generation of Taiwanese photographers with an academic background. At 18, Chang went to Tokyo to study photo portraiture. Five years later, he opened his photo studio in Taipei. In 1942, Chang and his newly-formed family went to do business in Shanghai. Chang's photgraphy career did not really take off until he returned to Taipei with his first solo exhibition in what is now Zhongshan Hall in Taipei. Since then, Chang has organized exhibitions and published photography journals in Taiwan and exhibited abroad.
His series of portraits of Tao Aborigines near Jade Mountain remains the highest-acclaimed. One of Chang's favorites from the series -- the imperturbable and dignified face of a Tao prince -- is also on show.
Classic Chang Tsai -- the Unreleased Photo Works, runs through Feb. 18 at Taiwan International Visual Arts Center, 29, Ln 45, Liaoning St, Taipei. (台
This is the year that the demographic crisis will begin to impact people’s lives. This will create pressures on treatment and hiring of foreigners. Regardless of whatever technological breakthroughs happen, the real value will come from digesting and productively applying existing technologies in new and creative ways. INTRODUCING BASIC SERVICES BREAKDOWNS At some point soon, we will begin to witness a breakdown in basic services. Initially, it will be limited and sporadic, but the frequency and newsworthiness of the incidents will only continue to accelerate dramatically in the coming years. Here in central Taiwan, many basic services are severely understaffed, and
Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 Of the more than 3,000km of sugar railway that once criss-crossed central and southern Taiwan, just 16.1km remain in operation today. By the time Dafydd Fell began photographing the network in earnest in 1994, it was already well past its heyday. The system had been significantly cut back, leaving behind abandoned stations, rusting rolling stock and crumbling facilities. This reduction continued during the five years of his documentation, adding urgency to his task. As passenger services had already ceased by then, Fell had to wait for the sugarcane harvest season each year, which typically ran from
It is a soulful folk song, filled with feeling and history: A love-stricken young man tells God about his hopes and dreams of happiness. Generations of Uighurs, the Turkic ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang region, have played it at parties and weddings. But today, if they download it, play it or share it online, they risk ending up in prison. Besh pede, a popular Uighur folk ballad, is among dozens of Uighur-language songs that have been deemed “problematic” by Xinjiang authorities, according to a recording of a meeting held by police and other local officials in the historic city of Kashgar in
It’s a good thing that 2025 is over. Yes, I fully expect we will look back on the year with nostalgia, once we have experienced this year and 2027. Traditionally at New Years much discourse is devoted to discussing what happened the previous year. Let’s have a look at what didn’t happen. Many bad things did not happen. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) did not attack Taiwan. We didn’t have a massive, destructive earthquake or drought. We didn’t have a major human pandemic. No widespread unemployment or other destructive social events. Nothing serious was done about Taiwan’s swelling birth rate catastrophe.
RSS