Mon, Jul 10, 2017 page3

• FEATURE: Art festival reconnecting Aborigines to their land

  • By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
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  Many Aborigines in eastern Taiwan have left their hometowns to find work in cities, but after years of living elsewhere many have returned home for resons that were not initially clear to them.

  Beginning on July 1 along the shores of Shihtiping (石梯坪), the Mipaliw Wetlands Art Festival is attended by many Aborigines returning home to share their stories and works of art.

  Shihtiping is a strip of land between the Coastal Range and the Pacific Ocean in Hualien’s Fengbin Township (豐濱), which is home to the Makotaay community of Pangcah (Amis) Aborigines.

  

  The Face of the Earth by artist Lafin Sawmah is pictured at the Mipaliw Wetlands Art Festival in Hualien County’s Fengbin Township on July 1.

  Photo: Lin Chia-nan, Taipei Times

  In the Pangcah language, mipaliw means “mutual assistance.”

  The community was preparing to harvest their “ocean rice” on the coastal terraces as the festival began.

  The yellow, heavy rice ears billowing in the wind make it hard to imagine that the now-thriving community was once withering as young people left for the city.

  The exodus started to reverse when Sumi Dongi shared her stories about the community, inspiring the 2013 documentary Wish of the Ocean Rice (海稻米的願望) and the 2015 film Wawa No Cidal (太陽的孩子).

  Like many young people in the nation’s east, Sumi left for northern Taiwan after graduating from junior-high school where she worked in various jobs, including at drink stalls and clothing stores, which gave her new insights.

  “I often felt an odd sense of unreality; as if I was suspended in the air,” she said against the background of festivities at Shihtiping.

  “I had left my hometown for the city, which seemed to be brimming with opportunities and hope, but it was at a time when Aborigines faced racial prejudice. No matter how hard I tried, I was still viewed as an Aborigine and my opportunities for achievement were limited,” she said.

  Disillusioned with urban life, Sumi and her child returned to the community 20 years ago.

  As time passed, she saw more farms being sold, as they had been left fallow for two or three decades.

  To protect the farmland and the community, Sumi convinced elders to resume farming. She also sought help from Forestry Bureau Director-General Lin Hua-ching (林華慶).

  In 2011, Lin promised to subsidize a project to repair irrigation canals, but requested that no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers be used in farming.

  The farmers agreed and saw water flowing from the mountains to their terrace farms the following year. Later, they began selling their organically grown “ocean rice.”

  About 10 hectares of farmland were restored and wildlife thrived, bureau Conservation Division director Hsia Jung-sheng (夏榮生) said.

  Sumi also instilled in the community an interest in arts by reviving the festival, which was held in 2011 and 2012, but was later stopped due to insufficient funds — until this year.

  Eleven public works of art are featured on the golden paddies. The artworks, made of driftwood, bamboo or other in-situ materials, melt into the landscape in Shihtiping.

  One work of art, The Face of the Earth (大地的臉孔), is a giant head made of driftwood facing the sky, its eyes closed.

  “The work of art represents the land, but I also imagine it as representing myself,” artist Lafin Sawmah said, adding that his community in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱) shares the same ancestral origin with the Makotaay community in Fengbin.

  Sumi said her generation is inspired by the rising young artist.

  Born in Kaohsiung, Lafin worked at electronic factories and lighting companies, but he did not settle in any job.

  He returned to his community at the age of 26 and after Typhoon Morakot brought driftwood to their coast in 2009, he began using it in artworks with the help of his brother-in-law and other elders.

  He said artistic creation, unlike mechanical work, allows him to freely express himself even if it does not earn a stable income.

  Asked if he thinks it is necessary to express Aboriginal identity through art, Lafin said “No.”

  “I do not want to confine my identity to only that of an Aborigine. Aborigines are minorities in the world and, culturally speaking, I certainly identify with being an Aborigine, but in terms of artistic creation I want to adopt a broader perspective,” he said.

  The festival is to run until Oct. 30 and the works of art are to remain in place afterward.

  “Land restoration is not just the duty of Aborigines or the people living on the east coast, but of every Taiwanese,” Sumi said.

  With regard to Panai Kusui and Mayaw Biho, who have been protesting outside the Presidential Office Building against regulations over Aboriginal land, Sumi said they are using different ways to protect their land, but added that she supports them.

  More information about the festival can be found at www.mipaliwarts.com
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