楊順發《台灣土狗》
YANG Shun-fa
Taiwan To Go (Cancelled)
Packs and packs of Taiwan dogs are wading through the ocean, trotting after their alphas across sandbar after sandbar. With an adventurous character and eagerness to explore uncharted territories, they have no fear for the unknown, despite the fact that they could not seem to find their way anywhere in the midst of the vast ocean. YANG Shun-fa is deeply moved by these frequent scenes when he is conducting surveys along the coastline in recent years, as the nature of these Taiwan dogs bears a strong resemblance to the tenacity and strength of Taiwanese people.
Taiwan is currently at a loss with the diplomatic isolation forced on by threats from China. If we view the Taiwan dogs that are wading across sandbars as a representation of the island, the country, and the people of Taiwan collectively, then the photography series can pose a legitimate question when properly titled with “To Go”, a two-way homophone that coincidentally means “move forward” in English and “Taiwan dog” in Mandarin. Where are we going? Does Taiwan have to be constantly prepared to head towards new directions?
Born in Shanhua, Tainan, a small town in the southern part of Taiwan, YANG Shun-fa is both an artist and a blue-collar worker at the China Steel Corporation. His works have been invited to exhibitions in France, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and Hong Kong, and are included in the collection of several museums, both local and abroad.
In one of his early works, the "Reconstructed Kingdom" series, YANG used an overpowering style of staged photography to tackle controversial issues, and mockingly revealed the hidden face of the Taiwan society under the veil of hypocrisy. Later, he began to focus on Kaohsiung and the southern part of Taiwan, documenting the life of low-level laborers, industrial landscapes, and urban change and evolution. One perpetual theme that YANG has been working on for 30 years is the relocation of the Hongmaogang village in Kaohsiung. The series acts as a first-hand witness to the rise and fall of this small fishing village.
Recently, YANG developed two series depicting the coastal landscapes of Taiwan, “The Submerged Beauty of Formosa” and “Taiwan To Go”. Inspired by Chinese brush paintings, he ironically chose blends of soft and light color tones to represent the catastrophic scenes caused by land subsidence. Behind the aesthetic facade of magic realism lies in fact the silent protest of our Mother Nature.
