date of issue：2024-04-24
General Curatorial Introduction
This special exhibition, featuring artists in their 20s and 30s, is not only a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Taoyuan City Indigenous Culture Center, but more importantly, it is a demonstration of how young people, as individuals, articulate or respond to the gifts that the world gives them.
Through the creation of various media, the artists in this special exhibition try to think about, clarify, and explain their inner process. As young people facing various issues, they express their thoughts through the medium of exhibitions, conveying information through intangible or tangible works based on the world they know through their life experiences. Therefore, as the opening of the center's 20th anniversary retrospective, this special exhibition focuses on these aboriginal artists in their 20's and 30's, showcasing their unique perspectives on space, time, people, land, sea, and nature. Let us be inspired by their works and grow together!
Artists Introduction
Djubelang
Her clan name is Badalaq Djubelang and she is a second generation urban aboriginal youth. She was born in Zhonghe District, New Taipei City in 1993 and now lives in Linyuan District, Kaohsiung City. Her mother is from the Paiwan tribe in Sisigu, Pingtung County, and her father is Minnannese from Ximending, Taipei City. She graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Taipei National University of the Arts. She attempts to use video projects, weaving, embroidery and other behaviors as creative methods to explore the trajectory of urban aboriginal people's re-existence in society, and sort out their own ethnicity and identity issues.
Introduction of Works
The core concern of the works in this exhibition ranges from individual artists to the public; from photography to weaving.
In "Weaving in the City," she connects tradition and contemporary times through learning ground weaving and explores the process of continuation and variation of traditional life in the contemporary era. Through the migration of weaving and the characteristics of material transformation, she tries to recreate the possibility of survival of weaving in contemporary urban space.
In "Lau Photography Project," the artist links up eight aboriginal youths, and through the visual language in contemporary images, she co-constructs a possible group portrait of aboriginal youths, and tries to open up a way to explore the mother culture.
"Princess Paihan" and "Ling's Daughter" are the dialectics of the artist's self-identity between "imagination" and "reality." She further explores the identity of "What are Aboriginal people?" from "The Gaze of Others" and "Selfie Images."
Artist Introduction
Ljaljeqelan Patadalj
His clan name is Ljaljeqelan Patadalj and he was from Majia Township, Pingtung County. Growing up in a tribe, he has been nurtured and learned from the contemporary Paiwan culture. In his works, he redefines the position and role of contemporary youth in the tribe, attempts to break through the previous visual image and language identification, constructs a contemporary style, and shapes the future aborigines. His professional fields span painting, graphic design, visual dynamics, art education and agriculture. His recent works focus on the dilemma of self-identity of contemporary indigenous youth, thinking about the connection with the present while following the tradition. At the same time, he is more concerned about the sustainability of the land, people, environment, community and cultural life, and uses the tribes as a base for his creative work, attempting to present more possibilities and discussions of youth development in the tribes, as well as continuing to develop and pass on a more futuristic vein of aboriginal youth.
Artist Introduction
Sutipau Tjaruzaljum
The artist was born and raised in Hualien. Her father is a New Zealander and her mother is a Paiwanese from the Dashe tribe (Paridrayan) in Sandimen Township, Pingtung County. After graduating from university, she returned to her mother's tribe to work and unknowingly began to explore her own identity. She re-explores the definition of "who I am," and delves into the complexity of her own blood and genes to find out the skin, soul, and imagery woven by her mother's culture.
Co-Curatorial Introduction
In recent years, artists Ljaljeqelan and Sutipau have been using video and hand-woven textiles to explore the issue of migration and 'return,' in search of a route of return and self-subjectivity, as well as a sense of cultural awareness and identity for the new generation, and to reshape the necessary relationship between human existence and the environment and space. With “Pacacada,” Ljaljeqelan sees the 'ocean' as a cultural bridge for the Austronesian/Malayopolynesian. Although the scene is set in the mountains, the river and the sea, his life experience is different from that of the other island groups, and he keeps a certain distance from the sea, he also sees the body of the 'human being' moving along the path of migration. The mountains, the river and the sea are intertwined and in dialogue with each other in the historical situation, and in a certain time and space, they are not only linear but also an extension of the line. With "A Series of Words," Sutipau uses the traditional Alpinia zerumbet weaving technique and tries to ask about the sense of distance in the human form by using the facial recognition system. Through the presentation of her works, she is trying to speak a series of words to herself. In the natural environment of her hometown, or in the modern city of the bustling world, she always expects a series of words to help her find her own sense of confirmation and identity behind the doubts of 'resemblance or lack of resemblance.' With " Black without Disappearing," Sutipau records the traditional handprints of nine Paiwanese and Rukai women of different tribes, ages and backgrounds. This is echoed in the performance video "ti sutipau aken," which shows the women on the slopes sharing "who I am" in a contemporary way after the changes of the times.
The two artists see the role of youth as the starting point of cultural translation of ethnic groups. Despite their different backgrounds and experiences, they try to explore the "leaving" and "returning" through multi-media, and face the fact that movement and migration are the intertwined experiences and issues of the indigenous people in the contemporary world.