Some like it old

By Jules Quartly
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jan 11, 2007, Page 15

Suan Hooi-wah poses in front of a manipulated print from his impression series of photos, at TIVAC, in Taipei. PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES

Polaroid cameras are a redundant technology and the instant film look is history. Through the lens of a Polaroid, busy Nanjing East Road in 2006 seems at least 30 years old. The vehicles are indistinct, the buildings are old and there are no visible neon signs. The vault of gray-blue sky has a light peculiar to photographs of that period.

Technically this is because the crystals embedded in the polymer film absorb and transmit light in lines, or selectively eliminate reflection. It is a unique filter effect, as distinctive as pointillism in the 1880s, when dots of primary colors created the impression of a full spectrum.

In the work of Suan Hooi-wah (全會華), on show at TIVAC (Taiwan International Visual Arts Center), stylizing the image in this way freezes it in time. A picture of Zhongxiao East Road in the rain has a sky that looks yellowed with age. A water effect has been introduced and a Motorola phone advert is part liquefied. The trees have scratch marks and are faintly ghostly as a result.

Polaroids of Taipei life by Suan Hooi-wah. PHOTOS COURTESY OF TIVAC

Unusually, this texturizing has been achieved "manually," rather than digitally. One of the key points about the Polaroid SX-70 Suan uses is the film takes a long time to develop. Before the image is fixed he uses wood, pens or other implements to manipulate the surface. In a photograph of leafless branches the background has whorls, like an oil painting, so the toxic-looking yellow-green sky swirls like a poisonous fog. This effect was achieved, Suan said, by gouging the film surface before it dried.

Wu A-sheng takes a look at life outside Taipei in his gritty photographs.

"I use Polaroid because not many people have them nowadays. That is partly why the photos have a nostalgic feel and are unusual," said Suan, who is also director of TIVAC. The SX-70 was introduced in 1972 and phased out in the 1980s. It was a classic and the first foldable SLR (single lens reflex camera), with non-peel, self-developing film.

As for the content of his pictures, Suan said the juxtaposition of old and new in Taipei gives him a strange feeling and this was an aspect of the city he was trying to convey.

Polaroids of Taipei life by Suan Hooi-wah.

"When you see the photographs they make you think, 'Why has Taipei turned out like this?' They look backward and make us reflect on the way we live today. We are partly in the past, but also in the present. Some people like the old and others the new. I prefer the old," said the photographer who was born in Malaysia, but has lived here for 20 years.

In #01 there are two Chinese Matryoshka dolls, a seemingly contented couple. They are wrapped in warm clothes and watch a flooded street. The picture has a pink wash and even though one cannot quite make out what the objects are, in real life, they have a familiarity for those who know Taipei. For others the photos have an exotic appeal.

Performance Notes: Impression (印象) by Suan Hooi-wah (全會華) and Under the Clouds (雲彩之下) by Wu A-sheng (吳阿生) Where: TIVAC (台灣國際視覺藝術中心), 1F, 29, Ln 45, Liaoning St, Taipei (台北市遼寧街45巷29號1樓) When: Monday closed. Tuesday to Friday, 12pm to 7pm. Weekends and holidays 12pm to 6pm. The exhibition continues until the end of the month Entrance: Free; prints are for sale Contact: (02) 2773-3347 or tivac@ms28.hinet.net

#13 has a similar content, but this time the telescope lens has been pulled back and the Matryoshka figures (playground equipment) appear dressed in raincoats and look upward, stoically, at an airplane flying over Yuanshan Park. The blue sky is streaked as if it is drizzling. The result is a realistic but impossible and therefore arresting image.

Sometimes, as in the case of a picture of grass that has been altered, the result is less successful. The subject is mundane and nothing much is gained aesthetically from the effects. Also, the problem with looking back is that we fail to see what is before us.

A second exhibition, downstairs, features the artist Wu A-sheng (吳阿生). Rather than large prints (as above) these are small, gritty, black-and-white photographs. Most have been taken outside Taipei, in Changhua or Keelung for instance, and offer a glimpse of life beyond the pale of the big city: fisherman, temple leaders on a march, farmers planting rice, two blind beggars walking through a night market.

At their best, Wu's pictures are raw and powerful. In one, a topless gang leader with long hair is flanked by his gang. They look confidently into the camera, like film stars posing for a poster. But Under the Clouds (雲彩之下) is hit and miss. An example of the latter is a dirty work-glove, lying discarded on the ground. So what? Others capture the moment or an expression but are blurred and the picture quality is poor. Even so, they have a blunt honesty that provides a counterpoint to the sophisticated and artistic approach of Suan.