Last few days in Taipei

as the last day draws closer, assortment of activities before I leave Taiwan. [1] great dinner with the guys and Taipei family @posakjodian [2] consisted of my new favourites, Taiwan fried rice, bamboo, snails basil, frogs [3] visiting other #OCACtw program, ThaiTai presentation at #THAV Treasure Hill Artist Village [4] Taipei Art Village in the heart of the city for their [5] residency artists talk [6] Hong-Gah Museum for a 2 person opening, video orientated space [7] Jing and Soh visit [8] Gongguan fleamarket and bookstore hunt (political publications) [9] awarded #CendanaMalaysia emerging artist funding programme, thanks KoonYik for receiving it [10] challenge installation of my residency work. Great guidance and curatoring work by @shihtung
Thank you everyone for the great hospitality. I feel like I live here now, and am heading off to work momentarily. I'll be back soon, Taiwan has great peaches!

[1] great dinner

[2] snails, frogs, bamboo

[3] #THAV

[4] Taipei Art Village

[5] residency artists talk

[6] Hong-Gah Museum

[7] Jing and Soh

8] Gongguan fleamarket

[9] awarded #CendanaMalaysia

[10] installation site

Kuma Young Folk Noise artist at #KantaTaiwan Portraits for the indie, music 先行一車 黑膠倉庫 Senko Issha Records No.8, 師大路102巷大安區台北市10647

prints

folk noise music artist

Senko Issha Records

Voices of Photography got 5 issues of Taiwan photography journals from @lightbox_lib one of the great supporters of photography in Taipei. Catching up with Liang-pin, thank you for the hospitality

Voices of Photography

Awarded– Emerging Artist Fund CENDANA

Cultural Economy Development Agency Awarded the Emerging Artist Incubation Fund Programme #EAIFP 2018 by #CendanaMalaysia. Some much needed support for #KantaPortraits to get to fringes of Borneo. Enough to almost fund two trips to Sarawak. Much planning ahead, estimate 1st & 2nd quarter next year #KantaBorneo #KantaTaiwan #KantaBoxKamra — in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thanks Koonyik for accepting the award on the project's behalf.

Return Taipei

Back in Taipei *reminder what 25kg feels like on your back... Stop hoarding more stuff, especially collecting stones and rocks from Hualien beach! Today is no move day #KantaTaiwan

Day 5– Fatáan

[1] Mayaw, extraordinaire, teacher, local cultural researcher, coach, chef, artist, painter, mapper, the list goes on. Oral memories of Fatáan, fittingly a portrait of his friendly cheerful nature.
[2] Day started out at the community centre, [3] giving a deeper briefing of the project, and [4] having a portrait session for the elders. We had 12 portraits in a span of an hour & half.
[5] Then off to the surrounding hills to get a good perspective of the valley, making some B-roll shots. [6 & 7] Finding the main river, what's left of it. The sacred river where, people of Fatáan, #Pangcah would find their stories of beginnings, for these two mountains.
[8 & 9] Squeezed in a session for [10] #LisinHaluwey just before our train back to Taipei #KantaPortraits #BeyondBorders #EdgesofMalaysia

[1] Mayaw

[2] community centre

[3] briefing of the project

[4] portrait session for the elders

[5] 12 portraits

[6] surrounding hills

[7] Finding the main river

[8] Finding the main river

[9] #LisinHaluwey

[10] #LisinHaluwey

Team Fatáan, Lisin (left), posak, and I. wrap up the 4th leg of the journey, with the making of the portrait of #LisinHaluwey. At our HQ, and the cafe, Lisin like many of this generation, forms an important link to carry the #Pangcah culture to a relevant future with this place and the people #BetelnutFlower #KantaPortraits #8intrepid #1interchange
*NOTE for more than a century, people of the Fatáan, Hualien District have been mistakenly referred to as #Amis, but like so many Indigenous cultures from my experience, never ever labelled or identified themselves a name, but were classified, boxed in, by the "modern" systems of anthropology/ ethnography, in this case, either by the Imperial Ching dynasty (Han Chinese Kingdom) & perhaps by the Japanese Colonialisation of Formosa. If any would be given, it is #Pangcah, the local native word for people

Team Fatáan

Day 4– Fatáan

The Sabbath, Sunday is a rest day, even for us the production team. [2] Started the day by attending the local church, Catholic. My mom would be so happy I attended mass. Every native community, even in Malaysia, would have a religion that would form a big part of their spiritual belief, sometimes fused with their traditional practices as well. [3] And in most instances, be one of the first to document and organise a latinised, written form of oral traditions.
[7] Our adventure took us on a road trip to Hualien city, in the search of a car part we broke. We managed to find the exact part, the gear shift handle! [4] Which coincidentally passed where my father was 43 years ago when he was in Taiwan. #AmiCultureVillage. My father in his youth, pursued a search for family, for origin. Much like I am trying to piece together, little stories of our links, in Malaya. Travelling using the trains, making photographs of distant/ close relatives around the country. Which I only found out way after I started #projekroots.
[5] We made it to the mouth of the Hualien River, where it meets the open Pacific ocean. Pebble beach, mostly stones from the many industrial quarries make up the shoreline. [6] Byproduct of a manmade shoreline.
[8] the team, Main camera and director, collaborative artist, Posak, on her exploration of the #Pangcah #Amis of #Fatáan village, and their relation to the river. Stories of origins from the sacred mountains. Lisin Haluwey, on sound/ audio, and assistant, driver, local guide and cultural expert, translator, and me, do anything else. [9] Managed to squeeze in an interview with Susu, posak's favourite uncle.
[1] elder of the community [10] Tomu (leader) of one of the five villages that makes up the greater Fatáan village

[1] elder of the community

[2] local church

[3] written form

[4] father & i, 43 years apart, same spot

[5] Hualien river meets the sea

[6] beach front

[7] gear knob found

[8] team 

[9] Susu interview

[10] Tomu (leader)

Day 3– Fatáan

Lunch today was explained as simple. Started with Beer, lime & salt. Refreshing after this morning interview. #Apuku! Cheers. 4 dishes later #burp ok back to work #hiccup Host family just the most fun to be with!

Site visit to sacred site Salomaan, which has now been turned into a tourist attraction. Small lake which is visited during droughts, finding the source. Interview with host dad, whose first language is Japanese (Western) and later with an important cultural heritage researcher, Mayaw, famous baseball coach & chef!
1. 2nd Toning experiment
2. Tracing the source of Salomaan
3. Interview with Dad
4. Sacred site
5. Cultural Mapping
6. Portrait paintings by Mayaw, this guy is multi talented
7. Found a bigger #Amis boat!
8. Traditional weave textile, made from a vegetable fiber, soft to touch, like cotton
9. Best #dodol I had, it's pounded rice, deep fried called #Tulu
10. Toning Experiment, print comparison
#KantaPortraits #BeyondBorders #EdgesofMalaysia

1. 2nd Toning experiment 

2. Tracing the source of Salomaan

3. Interview with Dad

4. Sacred site

5. Cultural Mapping

6. Mayaw portrait paintings

7. bigger #Amis boat!

8. Traditional weave textile

9. deep fried #Tulu

10. Toning Experiment

Day 2– Fatáan

what was supposed to be a casual meetup with a village elder at a community centre, turned out to be an important community meeting, given an introduction to the elders of Fatáan community, then portrait session and interview later, exhausted from the day. It is only our 2nd day in the field!
1. Portrait of ilep, community elder & natural leader, craftswomen
2. Making her portrait
3. Important meeting, Tomu Futing speaking to important people of the community on the upcoming harvest festival
4. Having lunch with the elders. Downing beer (grandpa on right) #Apuku Kampai!
5. Setup a mini exhibition of Native portraits from Malaysia
6. Visit boat maker, actually it is a bowl, make from betelnut tree
7. Given boats, in love with grandmas, they are the sweetest
8. Mapping of course, looking for swim spots, hopefully next day will get a chance for a dip
9. Portrait session after community meet.
10. Portrait of a man from a shaman lineage
#KantaPortraits #BeyondBorders #EdgesofMalaysia

@intrepidcameraco #intrepidcamera casualty, I'm one film holder down. Even after extensive repair work, the side frame gave way, first from the bottom joint where the plywood is just routed too thin to hold its strength. But I would be able to glue it back, this time with epoxy.

1. Portrait of ilep

2. Making her portrait

3. Important meeting

4. Having lunch 

6. Visit boat maker

5. Setup a mini exhibition

7. Given boats

8. Mapping

9. Portrait session

10. Portrait of a man from a shaman lineage

intrepid film holder, broken