The audio equipment provider-turned-photographer Tseng Min-hsiung (曾敏雄) has his particular approach to portraiture. While the more orthodox portrait photographers aim to shape a larger-than-life image of their celebrity subjects, Tseng instead tries to capture the moment when people reveal their life stories with their eyes.
In a portrait of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in 2002, Tseng deliberately provokes the statesman out of his habitual position, smiling magnificently in his adorned sofa, and caught the moment when Lee was slightly shocked and almost piqued at Tseng's impudent request. That moment, Tseng said in an interview with the Taipei Times, was Lee at his truest.
Lee's portrait and those of 99 other famous personalities are currently on show in Face's Talk, (台灣頭) Tseng's solo exhibition at the National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館).
In 1999, the then 34-year-old audio equipment shop owner decided to photograph 30 artists in central Taiwan, with the encouragement of well-known art critic Hsieh Li-fa (謝里法). This was Tseng's first serious photographic project. After the series was complete, Tseng gave himself the task of photographing 100 leading figures in different industries in Taiwan.
"When Paul Gauguin returned from his two-year stay in Tahiti to France, he said that he'd become more barbaric but much wiser. I felt the same about doing the portrait series," Tseng said.
Tseng said that selecting 100 "heads of Taiwan" proved more difficult than the photography. The majority of his selection were artists and writers, instead of political and business magnates, which seems to emphasize the influence cultural luminaries have on the history of Taiwan.
"There are few real statesmen, only politicians, and politicians come and go. Artists' works are handed down from generation to generation. They have a wider influence over Taiwan," Tseng said.
Viewers expecting to see only the big names in Taiwan may find the portrait of non-celebrity Lin Guan-ting (林冠廷), a 15-year-old boy with Down's syndrome, quite incongruous. "I made an exception for the boy when I saw his boundless imagination as he painted and his devoted manner when writing calligraphy. His
personality moved me deeply, so I decided to include him in the series," Tseng said.
For a little-known photographer like Tseng, having the country's most renowned or famous people agree to be
photographed was not easy.
Lin Huai-min (林懷民), artistic director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Taiwan's best-known choreographer, and Gao Hsi-guen (高希均), economist and publisher of Commonwealth magazine, are both known to be extremely selective about their photographers. Tseng admitted that he made repeated and tenacious efforts to win their trust.
Believing that there are many more "heads of Taiwan" who are not shown in the present series, Tseng said that he would continue the project for an indefinite time to capture the images of all of those people who have shaped today's Taiwan.
Face's Talk
Tseng's solo exhibition, is set to run through Feb 22 at the National Museum of History, 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei
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