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Photo Credit: Ze Wei
Huang, Jian-Huan Solo Exhibition: Before It Disappears
2024/11/13
Location: Tsung-Yeh Arts and Cultural Center
In July of 1823, during the 3rd year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, a typhoon brought heavy rains that forced the Ouwang River (now the Zengwen River) to change its course, carrying massive amounts of sediment that caused the silting of the Taijiang Inner Sea. In July of 2024, Typhoon Kemi ravaged the area, and the floodwaters revealed the shape of the once-thriving harbor. The ebb and flow of water and land, the shifting borders, and the encounter of two overlapping time periods—water brought back long-lost memories. These tales of rivers, seas, and harbors, shaped by vast transformations of land and water, and the gradually fading layers of memory of the land, fueled my curiosity and imagination during my residency.
One summer morning, I retraced the ancient boundaries, walking along the village’s edges, stepping into the levees and cross-dykes. As I gazed around, the sound of flowing water echoed in my ears and mind. Before me, everything was coated in mud, like the land covered by a blanket of fresh snow. The flood-retention ponds, left exposed by the receding waters, bore the marks of their submersion. In the distance, groynes seemed to summon images of the Japanese colonial period. The vanished landscape, hidden behind the passing years and forgotten history, was unexpectedly revealed after the typhoon. Objects, events, and landscapes from different times converged and overlapped in that moment.
Time washes everything away, slowly erasing what once was. Yet, the landscapes that once existed, like memories, have never truly disappeared...
More Information:
https://tyart.tnc.gov.tw/index.php?inter=program&period=real&id=244
https://tyart.tnc.gov.tw/index.php?inter=news&category=2&nId=167