NATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGES-Past Exhibitions

Reflective States: 2023 National Art Exhibition R.O.C. Photography Category

2023-12-23 ~ 2024-03-31

National Center of Photography and Images, Taipei Galleries 301-303

Reflective States: 2023 National Art Exhibition R. Photography Category

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Exhibiting Artist(s)

WANG Chi-Jung

TIEN Cheng

HE Yong-Shun

WU Ching-Wei

CHO Ling

LIN Shu-Fen

CHANG Chih-Ta

CHANG Yi-Sheng

CHUANG Shu-Fen

CHEN Shin-Chih

JIAO Da-We

HUANG Yuan-Yu

HUANG Mu-Yun

YEH Chun-Yu

LIU Szu-Ling

LIU Chiu-Chu

LIU Wan-Fang

CHENG Chun-Tang

TAI Yu-Ju

CHUNG I-Chen

SU Yi-Shih

Supervisor

Ministry of Culture

Organizer

National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, National Center of Photography and Images

Exhibition Overview

Photography serves as a ref lection of the world, and the National Center of Photography and Images presents this year's "2023 National Art Exhibition R.O.C. Photography Category" under the theme "Reflective States," showcasing a diverse array of perspectives from this year's award-winning works while also revealing the participants' unique visual orchestrations that shape nuanced and divergent expressions of contemporary life.

Directed by the Ministry of Culture and hosted by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the "National Art Exhibition R.O.C." aims to promote artistic talent and encourage art creation. Through a process that includes submission, evaluation, award, and exhibition, it provides a platform for artists to grow and engage in dialogue. The exhibition annually draws domestic creators to compete for awards and display opportunities. Among its 11 categories, the photography category has always been one of the most actively contested and competitive. After a rigorous public judging process, the five jury members selected one gold, one silver, and one bronze award, along with 18 works receiving honorable mentions, totaling 21 pieces.

This year's entries showcase a rich diversity of themes and stylistic approaches. Techniques and materials range from traditional film photography and digital postprocessing to AI-generated images, all presenting different visual textures. Some artists capture landscapes, framing coastlines, farmlands, and industrial settings to ponder the relationship between humans and the environment. Others turn their lenses toward urban vistas, such as ruins, military dependents' villages, and construction sites, narrating the ever-changing interplay of time and space from different perspectives. Beyond landscape representation, some pull the gaze back to everyday life: vendors and street signs become subjects for micro-explorations of life's nooks and crannies. Bodily expression also emerges as a key theme, with participants employing diverse narrative approaches such as object direction, aesthetic composition, and aesthetics of trauma to interpret different facets of life.

"Reflective States: National Art Exhibition R.O.C. Photography Category" displays the award-winning works to highlight a multifaceted creative trend among publicly-funded art competition participants. These photographic works reflect the connection between individual reflections and the social environment. Through their unique visual perspectives, they manifest the rich tapestry of contemporary photographic creation.

Selected Works

Save a Runaway KiteJIAO Da-Wei2021
Save a Runaway Kite
Men are like kites in the sky—pull the string, and they obediently return? The kite beforeus drifts precariously astray; it’s no use seeking guidance from fortune tellers, and it’s too late to pray to the heavens. The salvation of this errant kite lies in one’s own timely intervention. There are no doctrines in the world of desire; spontaneity is the best approach, but one must endure the ensuing pain. The tattered elements within each image suggest that the battles of love and lust are ongoing. The interplay of light and shadow in these grayscale images invites the viewer into a realm of insatiable, entangled love and lust.
Oscillating MemoriesYEH Chun-Yu2022
Oscillating Memories
Emotions are stirred by the scenery, and memories resurface in spaces once laden with sorrow and joy. Returning to the lobby where we bonded, I extend blessings to friends and companions that either exist in the past and have become out of touch—I wish you peace, health, and tranquility.
Objects Calling, Heart Shifted: A Second LifeCHENG Chun-Tang2022
Objects Calling, Heart Shifted: A Second Life
I have coexisted with humans for a long time, once their most cherished beauty. Yet now, I am forgotten and abandoned in crumbling ancient houses, military dependents’ villages, and historic sites. Life and death are not mine to determine; only Time is the master of eternity. Even as we degrade, distort, and deform—reshaped by time—people no longer recognize us, deeming us unworthy of even a glance. We’ve waited for you in dark corners for a year, a decade, a century, grateful that our souls could meet, enabling our magnificent transformation and dazzling reemergence into the world.
In Search of Da VinciCHUANG Shu-Fen2022
In Search of Da Vinci
The self, exploration, perception, education, growth—each act of practice reveals a new beginning, an uncharted odyssey. Through delving into the microcosm of the self, I construct the context for my creative life, savoring the everyday dialogue between the self and my works. These are the authentic traces of life’s existence, a genuine reenact of everyday life.
Alternative DisplayCHANG Yi-Sheng2022
Alternative Display
When the pandemic worsened last year, the once bustling night markets descendedinto quietude. Confronted with slow business, vendors could only lower their heads, scrolling through their phones or rearranging their merchandise. Under the glow of nighttime lights, an array of goods lay displayed in all their varied splendor. Merchants can only wish for the swift end of the pandemic, yearning for the return of bustling scenes.
BeautyCHUNG I-Chen2021
Beauty
Stripped of outer clothing, what remains on the skin are marks: traces of brassieres and corsets etched into the back; the pain of ribcages imprinted on the skin; heels chafed from wearing specific shoes; stretch marks winding around hips and abdomen; the indentations left on the waist by fitted trousers and hosiery.Woman is made up of one hundred forms of pain.“Beauty is an unforgiving standard.”
A Bit MoreWU Ching-Wei2022
A Bit More
The commercialization of farmland has inflated prices, and as a result, farmers who depend on the land for their livelihood can no longer afford to purchase it. In the absence of regional planning, farmlands have become fragmented, dotted here and there with buildings. The wastewater from these buildings pollutes irrigation sources and raises concerns about food safety, while also severely disrupting the local ecosystem. The moment we sow houses instead of crops into the ground, we subvert the divine intent for these bountiful lands. The urgency to protect farmland and mandate their agricultural purpose cannot be overstated. To preserve Taiwan’s agricultural heritage, grow crops, not houses.
Tree Ring #24 Semi-FinishedHUANG Mu-Yun2022
Tree Ring #24 Semi-Finished
The journey of self-exploration and practice is unending. At 24, an age when one can no longer narrate life with youthful naïveté, everything takes on forms starkly different from the past. Experience is a tender scalpel, dismembering past values. That’s what the age 24 looked like for me, quietly picking up scattered fragments to reshape into a semi-finished work.
Psalms of HippocampusLIU Chiu-Chu2023
Psalms of Hippocampus
Memories undergo endless rumination and metamorphosis in the mind. Space and the narrative subject thread the temporal axis to form exquisite poetry.Here I am, quietly awaitingfor butterflies within the hippocampus to shine again.
Skin of ExistenceLIU Szu-Ling2022
Skin of Existence
The Skin of Existence series is a journey in pursuit of a departed family member. Mybeloved grandmother passed away in September 2022, and I’ve missed her ever since, attempting to find traces of her past existence. By capturing the indentations on her favorite leather sofa, which has folds and creases akin to her own skin, I am able to perceive the imprints left by the passing of time and memories. The sentiments and recollections they embody give me an opportunity to feel my grandmother’s once tangible presence. The work is printed on Japanese washi paper, which has unique textures that resonate with the qualities of skin.
Storage of BattlesCHEN Shin-Chih2022
Storage of Battles
Elements left in the military dependents’ village are deconstructed and reassembled as vessels for historical memory. The red marks represent withering sensations of life and specific ideologies, lay in forlorn storage within the scroll of the tides of historical epochs. As transitional products of political struggles and warfare, these transient objects fade away, like withered lotus leaves and cautionary quotes. Once the lotus has wilted, there is nothing left to fend off the rain—what persists across the ages is an unyielding vigilance against the scourge of war.
Days of the PastLIU Wan-Fang2023
Days of the Past
Born and bred in this locale, the fishermen express gratitude for the natural bountybestowed by the heavens, allowing them to catch eel fry during the winter season, ensuring a stable livelihood. Though the trials of life are ever-present, their diligent and thrifty disposition lends a bittersweet quality to their struggle. However, the present and future predicaments lie in the man-made pollution of the environment, the wind turbines erected along or off the shore for green energy and environmental protection, and the changes in river courses and sedimentation caused by typhoons. These factors threaten to extinguish traditional eel fry fishing, a lifestyle steadfastly preserved for over eight decades.
HereTAI Yu-Ju2021
Here
In this park, discarded materials are skillfully repurposed into sculptures, much like the expired film rolls in this photo series—once forsaken, now resurrected as snapshots of time and space. In this series, the creators behind these installations, myself included, and viewers are all intimately linked through the act of artistic creation.
Home Impressions: Any Wrongdoings at All?SU Yi-Shih2022
Home Impressions: Any Wrongdoings at All?
The petrochemical industry powers economic growth, yet it also creates severe environmental problems. Convenient and inexpensive plastic goods dominate our daily lives, but the degradation of plastic waste produces microplastics that threaten both human health and the ecosystem. As the health of residents and the beauty of the land diminish, we are compelled to contemplate: how should we balance economic advancement with the right to a livable environment? This is something that deserves introspection from all of us inhabiting this land.
Ocean Waste Fair QR CodeLIN Shu-Fen2022
Ocean Waste Fair QR Code
Every element within the artwork is meticulously curated from nearly a thousand photographs taken over the past year while traveling with family to various coastal spots such as beaches, secluded spots, and ports. Presented as QR codes, the conceptual framework of the piece employs irony to present the ocean waste captured in these photos. The ocean waste in the images is already entwined with the Earth and showcased as if they were part of an exposition, evoking both their beauty and a sense of sorrow. Welcome to the 2023 Ocean Waste Fair; please scan the QR code for free admission
Journey of DiversityHE Yong-Shun2022
Journey of Diversity
There are different ways of living in this world, and we have created different “rituals” in our lives, to which we adhere with a sense of reverence. This allows the spaces we occupy to fold and unfold in various timelines, imbuing life with a certain meaning. For us, this world is expansive; whether we look down upon or level with this fertile ground, we are passers-by with eyes turned skyward.
Interaction Between Tradition and Modernity – A Tribute to Serge CohenTIEN Cheng2023
Interaction Between Tradition and Modernity – A Tribute to Serge Cohen
Films and digital images are placed side by side, with the cell phone placed in themiddle. The 120 film is on the left, metaphorically suggesting the domination of the digital and that the era of film seems to have entered the annals of history. However,medium and large format films still remain the mainstream in professional creation, adomain that digital technology currently cannot substitute, thereby exerting anunderlying pressure for improvement in digital imaging techniques. Reflecting on theevolutionary arc of art history, the advent of photography once led painters to herald the demise of painting. Yet, the truth is that photography catalyzed reforms in paintingand elevated it to an essential medium for artistic expression.
Everyday Life / Life under a PandemicCHO Ling2021
Everyday Life / Life under a Pandemic
A viral war with the name COVID-19 emerged in 2019, prompting unprecedented measures to contain its spread. The government enacted regulations divergent from our usual norms, such as the mandatory wearing of face masks when going out. The “face mask” has now become an essential item when going outside, and this norm in the days of the pandemic is actually an oddity in our previous lifestyles. I aim to incorporate the element of the face mask into the everyday objects and places surrounding us, in the hope that one day we might return to our original daily state of normalcy, free from the restrictions of the pandemic.
Embodiment of the Golden DaysWANG Chi-Jung2021
Embodiment of the Golden Days
Written language is a tool of expression and communication, a symbol that transcends time and space. Around us are some written words rewritten and recolored by time, giving rise to an alternative visual metaphor that interprets disappearance while also manifesting another kind of existence.
Vase Flowers on the SeaHUANG Yuan-Yu2022
Vase Flowers on the Sea
Marine drift is global environmental issue. After erosion and washing by seawater, marine drift deforms and discolors into rubbish and irregular drift woods. Based on the concept of contemporary ink painting, the work features drift woods as trunks and branches, and marine debris as flowers for unconscious logical combinations and conscious aesthetic collages. Through surrealist reassembly, the work leads viewers into a visual otherworld that fuses Oriental ink painting and Western painting, forming a piece of digital art of contradicting aesthetics and conveying the digital and traditional contemporary spirit through the issue of marine drift.
Unfinished Story, Architecture Chapter No. 2CHANG Chih-Ta2023
Unfinished Story, Architecture Chapter No. 2
Searching for creative inspiration has become a part of everyday life.Unfinished Story—Architecture Chapter No. 2 compresses unfinished buildings into two-dimensional planes through aerial photography while embedding another floor plan within the image. Through the projection of light and shadow, the image is transformed back into a three-dimensional construction site. The work hopes to provide a new perspective and add a different spatial creative context to the subject matter. Regardless of how the viewpoint shifts or how the image is constructed, construction sites remain perpetually incomplete works-in-progress. They are akin to the “unfinished story” in our memories, fragmentary scenes that, despite recurrent reflection, remain perpetually incomplete.