date of issue：2021-02-26
The exhibition attempts to display the life, history, and roles of the ramie plant in Taiwan. We will learn about ramie’s international reputation, its historic place in all of Taiwan’s indigenous cultures, and its former ubiquity in traditional life in Taiwan, especially as a material for making fabric and other goods. We will learn about the particularly crucial role the plant played in Atayal culture, and how that role has evolved with the times.
For the past 30 years, Yuma Taru has run a traditional weaving workshop called Lihang Studio or Ye Tung Gong Fang. Through her work, and considering ecological, cultural, and economic factors, she has found a way for ramie to enter the modern era. Ramie has reemerged from Taiwan’s distant memory with a new calling.
The exhibition chronicles the search for ramie and the giving of new life. It tells the story of how Yuma Taru’s traditional background and knowledge led to new uses for ramie and the beneficial integration of its life cycle into Taiwan’s modern ecological environment. And it introduces a new phase in the culture and economy of Taiwan’s indigenous people.