In June 2017, I was invited by the guest curator of GalleryMain in Kyoto to exhibit at their gallery the next year with three other artists. After some thought about what I wish to show, I visited Kyoto in October, not only to check out the gallery space, but more importantly, to photograph the city. The images that I collected, then, became the primary material for what I would later show in 2018.
From the moment I arrived at Kansai International Airport, I started documenting everything that sparked my interest—be it the over-crowded Kiyomizu-dera, the MacDonald’s at Kyoto Station, high school girls gathering in groups, the view of early-autumn mountains, or the everyday life of local residents.
After the seven-day trip, I returned to Taiwan and experienced a shock I had never felt before, which was mainly triggered by the contrast between two places: Kyoto, to me, was gentle and elegant—even though the man-made objects and landscape felt deliberate and sophisticated, the scenery was in harmony with the world that surrounds it and with everything that lies within. In comparison, Taiwan is superficial and unreserved—artificial objects, scents, and products made of plastic, are all advertised forcefully. Even the effort to disguise or cover up such boorish qualities looks ridiculous. This is what I call “Taiwanese style.”
In Kyoto・Taiwan, I juxtapose images gathered in Kyoto during the 2017 trip with objects collected in my hometown of Taiwan. By implying the textural and symbolic relations between object and image, the installation shows differences between the two cultures and demonstrates their perspectives relatively. In the future, I will explore other cities and create similar juxtapositions using the same technique and concept that holds together this work.
從抵達關西機場起，便開始紀錄令我感興趣的種種。無論是人潮洶湧的清水寺，每每必經的京都車站麥當勞和群聚的女子高中生，還是即將邁入秋季的嵐山，以及尋常百姓的生活等。
七天行程結束後，對比京都的經驗，台灣的事物令我感到不同以往的衝擊。京都的輕柔、雅緻，雖精雕細琢但又與萬物合而為一的景致；對照台灣的表面及直接，那些人造的、香精的、大量塑料物的一切，以不經修飾的暴力裸露而出。連遮掩也是用極為滑稽的姿態存在著，這所謂的「Taiwanese style」。
《Kyoto ‧ Taiwan》是我將 2017 年於京都的旅行軌跡，與在家鄉台灣所蒐集的物件進行並置。藉由暗示物件及照片在質地與符號上的聯結，來展示文化之間的差異性和主體性。預計未來會再前往不同國家的城市，以相同手法和形式來生產此系列的其他組作品。