Now is a good time to see several exhibitions in Taipei that depict the world through the eye of a camera lens and that tend to be historical and documentary in nature. Heading the list is a must-see show for you history buffs entitled The Era of Mao currently on view at TIVAC until July 6.
These 51 small black-and-white framed photographs by the husband and wife duo Xu Xiaobing (
However, in spite of trying to capture various intimate moments of the chairman who is seen playing with his children or swimming in a lake, the photos tend to make him look iconic. Shot at low angles, he often appears much larger than life.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TIVAC
The first floor of TIVAC's exhibition space contains the heroic portraits of Mao and some documentary photographs of significant events, such as his meeting with the young Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama in 1954.
The photographer couple, Xu and Hou, were fairly anonymous during their career, while their work gained acclaim. When Xu was 21, he joined the Communist Party and by then had become a seasoned photographer. He recorded the victories of the Eight Route Army.
Hou, 8 years his junior, joined the party when she was 14, worked with Xu making photographs and learning the trade, and when she was 25 years old, became Mao's only private photographer, a position she held for 12 years. Her most famous photograph is titled Ceremony of the Country Establishment, which was shot on Oct. 1, 1949, at Tiananmen Square and which commemorated the historical event that marked a turning point of Mao's political career.
Installed in TIVAC's basement are grainy images of military struggle that took place during the 1940s. Here these fading documents of China's military strikes against Japan seem like movie stills and could be about any battle in any part of the world -- that is if fought by soldiers on horses running through the desert.
TIVAC had to make many negotiations to secure the work here, and it is the first time these images have been shown in Taiwan. Due to the controversial and sensitive political nature of the photographs, the pictures were sealed in archives for decades and are finally being revealed for the first time in years.
As the images are now currently perceived as a part of history that is long in the past, it seemed the right time to hold such an exhibition. And if you are interested in owning a piece of this early 20th-century history, TIVAC is also selling the prints at affordable prices.
For those of you wanting less history and more of an ethnographic flavor, you may want to go to the June 25 opening at the Hung Chong Gallery, where one can see color photographs by Taipei-based British photographer Nick Mayo who recorded the native dress and daily routines of various tribal inhabitants of southwest China.
Elaborate headdresses, ritual jewelry, weavings and people going about their daily routines to obtain food and water are some of the focal points of these brilliantly colored photographs. For a preview of Mayo's photographic work, you can check out the Web site: http://www.pbase.com/mayonick.
Exhibition notes:
What: The Era of Mao: Photography Exhibition
Where: TIVAC (
When: Until July 6
What: Peoples of Southwest China: Photographs by Nick Mayo
Where: Hung Chong Gallery, 396-1 Ren-Ai Road, (
When: June 25 to July 8.
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