“Disappearing Landscapes” broadens the focus to land and environment, foregrounding abandoned sites and ruins amid the waves of modernization. It also reshapes viewers’ understanding of images and issues through the use of reconstruction techniques.
Kao Jun-Honn’s The Ruin Image Crystal Project combines field surveys with archival research. By re-creating and re-enacting images, it brings back spaces abandoned due to economic liberalization, reintroducing them into public memory with a new visual language.
Yang Shun-Fa’s The Submerged Beauty of Formosa series combines real-life concerns with aesthetic elements. At first glance, viewers are drawn to the poetic compositions. Still, a closer look reveals houses, temples, and fish ponds submerged underwater, highlighting critical issues such as land subsidence and seawater intrusion. Using fictionalization and compositing techniques, Yang reimagines landscapes, blurring the line between nature and reality, and invites viewers to reflect on the relationship between humans and the environment.
Wu Cheng-Chang’s Vision of Taiwan series examines specific landscapes shaped by economic development and cultural changes. While the series maintains the aesthetic language of landscape photography, Wu employs intense lighting on faces to create white silhouettes that suggest the public’s indifference to the environment. The series evokes reflection by blending a sense of absurdity with scenic views, raising awareness of the land while inspiring potential changes.
These images reveal landscapes that are often forgotten or hidden, yet they represent the intersection of society, history, and the environment, urging us to reconsider the value and meaning of land as it fades away.