The National Taiwan Museum of History is hosting an exhibition showcasing the role of creativity in shaping the aesthetic qualities of Taiwan’s aboriginal people.
“This exhibition underscores the refined character, design qualities and technical excellence of aboriginal aesthetics,” NTMH curator Lu Mei-fen said.
“Besides bringing such qualities to the attention of the public, the event also highlights exchanges and cooperation between aboriginal tribes, and how these have produced the more diverse and interesting daily life artistic taste on display.”
According to Lu, the exhibition seeks to uncover the diverse world of aboriginal aesthetics. “For example, modern designers like to use designs that combine pink and sapphire blue, and this happens to be a traditional color scheme used by the Taroko tribe,” she said.
Lu believes that for many Han Chinese, any souvenir from an aboriginal community has to have an exotic quality to it, since this is the stereotype they hold of the tribes.
“The rhombus motif is the most representative of indigenous peoples in Taiwan, but it is also the one that is most overused and abused.”
For the aboriginals themselves, Lu said, if the item does not have a rhombus on it, it is not acceptable. “These ideas show how little is really known of the aesthetic qualities of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples.”
(This article appeared Aug. 8 in The Liberty Times.)