When I started my photography blog, it was because I needed a structure to organize 50 years of B&W photography into an exploration. The main challenge was to go through countless photos and miles of developed film to chose and write about a few that I had taken across four continents.
After more than a decade and with the feedback of
more than forty thousand readers of this blog, my street photos and photography
found an identity that I alone knew about once. Now, I get email from readers in
more than 60 countries that sometimes trigger a thought I had let go untended.
One such recent email was about a photo I had taken
in Taipei more than a decade ago and the reader found it on the internet. Then
a search got him/her to my blog and my email address.
The text read:
“Hello,
the photo you took of young women in Taipei seems outside the Museum of the Arts.
The background looks surreal and there is a story there that becomes a new
story everytime I look at it. Reminds me of Taiwan’s best known photographer’s
Chang Chao-Tang’s style.”
I traveled, taught and worked in Taiwan for more
than a decade starting in the mid-1990s. Indeed, Chang Chao-Tang introduced a
new style of street photography to Taiwan through his surrealistic
compositions. And he introduced, in his own way, Taiwan to the worldwide
audience of the arts. I have seen many of his works, mostly using medium format
film. All his works have an à priori choreography through which the artist
shares his thoughts. As such it is distinct from street photography where the
artist captures the “critical moment” as it happens. Based on that simple
dichotomy, I have to say that my favorite remains the photo of a water buffalo
working in the field with a man leading it, impeccably dressed in a western
suite and fedora hat! The contrast brings a number of sociological themes to
the composition as the imagery of a water buffalo in agriculture is commonly
found in the philosophy and arts of many Asian countries.
… So, I went back to my scanned files to find more
photos I had taken in Taiwan focusing on women.
Let me start with the photo at the outset. In 2007
and 2008 I was involved in research on pulmonary tuberculosis among the aboriginal
populations of Taiwan. The east side of the island has majestic forests and
wild left topography compared to the west side where urban life is found. So,
the aboriginal societies are on the east side of Taiwan and given their close
quarters living style, tuberculosis is endemic in that region.
I took this photo of a young aborigine woman during
an evening reception at one of the tribal groups. I wanted to show how different
the original inhabitants of Taiwan (then called Formosa) look compared to the general population of the island.
And, here is a photo I took on the street of Taipei two decades ago to show how the young generation in Taipei had adopted a life-attitude similar to Singapore and Hong Kong.
Yet, the traditions, symbolism and spiritual
dimensions were at every corner of the streets, in every classroom, and in
every hospital. Here is one of my favorite street photographs in Taipei where a
young woman was making an offering to a temple. I was later told that usually
it is a prayer and offering for a good marriage and fertility. For me it was a
moment where traditions and beliefs remain part of a culture.
I enjoyed taking photos inside temples, perhaps because
both my olfaction and visual senses were surrounded at the same time by the
burning of candles and incense, as well as the chiaroscuro of the rooms. I
found such photography more than capturing moments on film – rather, it was the
moment that captured me first.
As an academic and visiting scholar to a number of
universities, I cannot resist seeing a parallel between a temple and a
university. In fact, the first Taiwanese Confucian temple is found in the southern
Taiwanese city of Tainan, which was once the capital city of the island. The
temple is called Quan Tai Shou Xue, and is historically considered the first
real “school” in Taiwan where Confucian philosophical values and folk
traditions are kept alive and transmitted to every new generation.
I have visited the Tainan Confucian Temple more than
once and, of the endless sayings by the great teacher, I have consistently used
one quote in my professional life that I saw in the Temple:
“Anyone can be taught”
So, here is a photo I took in the open area of the
Taiwan National University where a statue of Confucius can be found. This woman
was probably taking a break from a walk. Or she was meditating. Or was pensive
regarding one of the teacher’s sayings. No matter, I find her posture most
germane to a university setting.
During a visit to Taichung City in central Taiwan, I
learned about the traditional art of making bone china. In fact, when I showed
my appreciation for the porcelain cup in which green tea was served at the
hospital I was visiting, I was told it was not porcelain but bone china. And
when they realized I did not know the difference, they arranged for a visit to
an artisanal shop with the best reputation for making bone china tableware.
Indeed, after a while I realized that by adding bone ash to porcelain, the product
(bone china) acquires a hue other than white, can be made much more thin and
delicate, and lighter than porcelain.
I took this photo in the workshop of that artisanal shop,
where the artist was surrounded with bone ash dust and had only a nuisance mask
for protection.
Finally, here is the photo about which I received
the email that triggered my search of photos I had taken in Taiwan. Indeed, I
remember using a Mamiya 645 medium format camera that day with the fabulous
f1.9 lens. I probably set the lens to its full aperture with a shutter speed of
1/1000 sec during a sunny day. Hence some of the strange blurring of the
background the commentator described as “surreal”.
No matter, it is a lively photo with the body
language of the young ladies perhaps in response to the man behind the
magnificent stone statue.
… There are more photos along the theme of this
essay, but I will stop here and go back to the opening quote from Chang
Chao-Tang.
Is photography a means to fill a personal void? Does poetry fill yet another type of void? Or
eventually all artistic expressions are primarily a personal exploration of the
artist’s very own self?
I think they are. But the critical characteristic of
that exploration is not the filling of a personal void, but sharing the filled
void (no matter how much filled) with others.
We can all be taught, as Confucius said. We just
have to find the right time and tone in sharing what we have learned. Then the
void we had filled becomes a space for others to visit and perhaps find their
own voids to fill.
October 23, 2022
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2022
PS/ These and many more photos can be seen on my
blog by searching the blog under “Taiwan”
