Taiwan Today

Artist Idas Losin embraces her Indigenous identity and draws powerfully on wider Austronesian culture.

  The Biennale of Sydney makes explicit a strong connection to First Nations people on its website landing page: “We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country, in particular the Gadigal people on whose land the Biennale of Sydney is located. We recognize their continuing connection to land, waters and culture and pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.” It is therefore fitting that one of Taiwan’s foremost Indigenous painters, Idas Losin, has been invited to participate in the 24th edition running from March 9 to June 10. After Venice and Sao Paolo, it is the oldest biennale in the world, and showcasing work by nearly 1,900 artists from over 100 countries, the largest contemporary art festival in Australia.

Barbara Moore, chief executive officer of the biennale, characterizes the upcoming exposition, titled “Ten Thousand Suns,” as fostering vibrant community collaboration and connection. “The 24th Biennale promises to leave a profound impact on visitors, and we eagerly anticipate artist Idas Losin as an enriching part of that experience,” she said.

  “It’s a nice surprise to be offered the opportunity and I’m excited and nervous at the same time,” said Idas, who is of Truku and Atayal ancestry. “It’s an acknowledgement of my journey and I’m proud to display my work internationally.” The artist will be present in person and create a piece at an exhibition site with support from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture. Using an expressive palette and simplified forms of Indigenous figures, island scenes, tattoo designs, totems and weaving patterns, Idas’ work in contemporary oils is inspired by a kaleidoscope of Austronesian cultures rendered through a Taiwan lens.

A graduate of Taipei National University of the Arts, Idas was inspired in 2003 by the international tour of the Australian exhibition curated by Aboriginal Bandjalung writer, artist and activist Djon Mundine. “The Native Born: Objects and Representations from Ramingining, Arnhem Land” was a seminal event that assembled over 200 paintings, sculptures and woven items at Taipei’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

  Idas subsequently traveled to Australia and met First Nations artists, learning about their styles and mediums during her four-year stay. This acted as a catalyst for her rumination on the state of Taiwan’s Indigenous art and exploration of her own ethnic identity as a creator. Following a 2012 residency at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts with Maori sculptor George Nuku and poet, painter and performance artist Tracey Tawhiao, Idas became interested in Austronesian migration and the dialogue between cultures from Southeast Asia and Oceania, which are linked by linguistic and anthropological evidence to Taiwan’s Indigenous tribes.

Interconnected Elements
Traveling to countries and territories with Austronesian heritage fostered Idas’ appreciation of the cultures on a broader scale. Partly funded by Taipei City-based Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation (IPCF), she implemented an island-hopping project between 2013 and 2018 that spanned Taiwan’s outlying island Lanyu, as well as the international destinations of Guam, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Rapa Nui. Through photography, drawing and painting, Idas documented the places she visited, subsequently incorporating the images into her unique visual language. “Travel helped me acquire traditional Indigenous knowledge and strengthened my visual sensibility as I recorded images as a way of keeping a travel diary,” the artist said.
  Idas characterized her travels as enlightening and magical. She was fascinated by beliefs, customs and myths as well as ballads, dances, tattoos and weaving. Despite differences in religious traditions, she found similarities between Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples and other Austronesian groups in the use of bird, fish, plant, triangle and zigzag totems. “Immersing myself in other Indigenous cultures and interacting with people everywhere I went, I gained an understanding of traditional practices and symbols that shape identities and values across the region,” Idas recalled.

Lovenose, deputy manager of IPCF’s Cultural Marketing Department and a member of the Amis tribe, said Idas creates pieces liberated from convention, adding that the diverse forms and subjects in her work are a reflection of an inner freedom. Most Indigenous artists grapple with personal identity, Lovenose said, citing the early stage of Idas’ career when she visited Indigenous villages scattered across mountains, listened to elders’ stories and traced tribal history.

  Idas’ mother is an accomplished Truku weaver who grows ramie, a flax-like plant, for weaving, and Idas uses some of her mother’s pieces as appliques on canvas as well as painted images of woven fabric in her work. Her 2005 piece “Who Am I?” is a self-portrait reflecting this introspection. “Idas embeds her art with cultural codes—signs and symbols relevant to people with a particular identity—such as colors, tattoos and woven patterns to communicate ideas, feelings and messages,” Lovenose said. “Her work is not merely visually appealing but also thought-provoking.” 

Visual Commentary Hsu Ching-yeh (許瀞月), a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Taipei, describes the arrangement of visual elements like color, line and form in Idas’ work as meeting a contemporary aesthetic sensibility while containing elements of Atayal textiles. For example, the 2012 Pulima Art Award-winning piece “The Symmetrical Relation Between Body and Spirit” depicts an Atayal man dressed in traditional clothing patterned in red and white geometric diamonds and triangles.

  “The Power of Idas’ work comes from disparities on the same canvas: the juxtaposition of tradition and modernity, abstract and realistic images,” Hsu said. “Her confident and fluid lines lend kinetic vitality to her painting.” According to the academic, Idas excels in expressing an essence, capturing her subjects’ character and spirit through their physical likenesses. Her figures and portraits are a form of storytelling that evokes an emotional response.

  Informed by her wider understanding of a common Austronesian heritage as well as unique respective challenges, Idas’ work reflects a range of community, environmental and social issues. For example, the painter’s 2014 “I See” is a collection of portraits of members from different tribes. They all wear sunglasses that reflect the dilemmas facing their communities such as development, mining and tourism, which damage the environment, pollute water systems and destroy ecosystems. Fueled by exposure to Austronesian art, Idas’ visual tropes include ancient Moai statues and Rongorongo, an as yet undeciphered writing system discovered on Rapa Nui; Tahitian tattoos composed of smooth, rounded and naturalistic elements; and Lanyu’s Indigenous Tao fishing boats.

  Idas’ work has featured in numerous exhibitions and been collected by domestic cultural institutions including National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and Taiwan Art Bank, both based in the central city of Taichung, as well as the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Australia. In 2012, she was awarded the Pulima Art Award’s grand prize, the country’s most prestigious Indigenous arts honor, organized by the Cabinet-level Council of Indigenous Peoples. “I’m proud of my identity and glad to see the recognition that many other Indigenous artists are gaining for their work in various disciplines ranging from dance and music to the written word,” Idas said. “Shared Austronesian heritage in culture, language and traditional wisdom has enriched my own roots with an added depth of group identity.” 
 

Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw