At first sight, a plain, grayish truck parked along a country road somewhere in rural Taiwan seems to be getting ready to unload goods as its back doors are opened. Soon, however, steps are added to the tailgate, the container’s walls and top are unfastened and then placed to form a wide platform, revealing an inner structure that unfolds to create an imposing backdrop complete with rows of lights. As the mobile stage begins to take shape, passersby get the idea that a dazzling show will take place that evening.
“Cabaret trucks” have existed in Taiwan since the 1970s, mostly serving as stages for traveling troupes who deliver song and dance performances for occasions such as funerals, private parties, religious festivities and weddings. In 2006, a year after he began recording images of people and events associated with the mobile entertainment vehicles, photographer Shen Chao-liang (沈昭良) decided to travel with the stage trucks as they made their way around the country, gradually becoming fascinated by the gaudily adorned vans.
“I find the existence of these vehicles in Taiwanese society very interesting and unique due to their structure, color and role as a totem [of local culture],” Shen says. “The truck’s mobility is essential as it makes things more convenient for the [cabaret] business. In this innovation, I see Taiwanese people’s intelligence, as they’re capable of improvising to make the environment better fit their needs.”
Shen took photos of the vehicles for five years, eventually compiling the images into one of his most renowned series, titled STAGE, in 2011. Since then, the collection has been exhibited in galleries in Taiwan as well as in Canada, France, Japan, mainland China, Peru, Spain, South Korea and the United States. In 2012, the series went on to win the photography category of Artist Wanted: A Year in Review, a US-based competition and exhibition program aimed at supporting emerging artists.
A cabaret truck set up in front of a cemetery in Taichung City, central Taiwan in 2011. (Photo Courtesy of Shen Chao-liang)
The great response from abroad is due in part to the curiosity many overseas viewers have about Taiwan’s unique cabaret culture, the artist says. Still others are drawn to the bright colors and stunning visual aesthetic presented in the pictures. Patrick Macaulay, the head of visual arts at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Canada, said that he was impressed by the strength of the images in STAGE when he first came upon Shen’s work online.
“Visually they were so strong and so engaging images that I just fell in love with them and didn’t look for anybody else. And I thought this is a show for us,” Macaulay said at the opening of Shen’s solo exhibition at Harbourfront in mid-2011.
Shen was born in 1968 in Tainan City, southern Taiwan. He developed his interest in photography primarily during a stay in Japan between 1991 and 1995, during which he studied Japanese and enrolled in a short-term visual arts program at a technical college there. During his sojourn, Shen became aware of the country’s relatively abundant photography-related books, forums and exhibitions, and it was in this environment that he gained a deeper understanding of photography as a medium that is able to cover a wide variety of subjects and forms.
An image taken in New Taipei City in 2004 from Shen’s Yulan Magnolia Flower series. The shadow is that of a vendor holding a bunch of magnolia blossoms with her artificial arm. (Photo Courtesy of Shen Chao-liang)
His growing interest in the art form led Shen to begin taking pictures in his spare time and in 1993 he started to shoot photos of Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market, one of the biggest wholesale fish and seafood markets in the world. To capture images of the people working there, Shen often arrived at around midnight so that he was on hand when the market began to get busy in the early hours of the morning.
In various accounts of his experiences at Tsukiji, Shen has written that he was amazed by scenes he witnessed in the market, many of which reflected characteristics deeply rooted in Japanese culture, such as workers’ dedication to perfection, order and good manners, in addition to their deep sense of duty and the attitude of putting customers first.
“Whenever I wander around Tsukiji Fish Market, I am always enchanted by the fast-moving crowd, the professionals’ distinctive [ways of doing their job], warm greetings from shop owners, the flourishing business scene, the swinging shop curtains and the balmy breeze,” he writes on his blog. “There were times when I felt I was in a movie recalling an earlier era when the people were kind; the feeling was very nostalgic.”
The Tsukiji project went on for 16 years, during which Shen took advantage of every opportunity to go back to the fish market for more shots. The images he acquired during the time gave birth to his photography book Tsukiji Fish Market in 2010, with the collection earning first place among documentary photography books and second place in self-published photography books at the Los Angeles-based International Photography Awards in 2012.
An image from Tsukiji Fish Market taken in Tokyo in 2009. The collection won Shen the top prize for documentary photography books at the 2012 International Photography Awards. (Photo Courtesy of Shen Chao-liang)
Long-time dedication to particular subjects has become one of the defining attributes of Shen’s photography as he usually shoots each topic over a number of years, although he often has several projects going at the same time. The artist says that he works this way to ensure that the stories he wants to tell are conveyed completely and accurately. “I’ve been doing features, not singular photographs,” he explains. “By accumulating images of ordinary people’s lives, I’m exploring the possibility of constructing a segment of society linked to a specific time through the lens.”
Between 1996 and 2008, Shen worked as a photojournalist for the Chinese-language Liberty Times, a daily newspaper in Taiwan, and says that the full-time job played an important role in helping him earn a stable income while he built his skills and experience. In 2005, he received a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Applied Media Arts at National Taiwan University of Arts in New Taipei City. In 2008, he left the news industry to devote more time to his own projects. He now works as a freelance photographer and photo critic, as well as teaches at Taipei’s Tamkang University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
Shen says he is prompted to record particular scenes because they touch him personally. “The process of taking these photos motivates me,” he says. “I repeatedly feel ‘nourished’ by looking into other people’s lives and the way they handle their jobs.”
Bright colors and stunning visuals are immediately recognizable as part of Shen’s STAGE series. This image was taken in Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan in 2008. (Photo Courtesy of Shen Chao-liang)
Gaze of Gratitude
As he renders observations into permanent images, Shen says he often notices the people who work hard and strive to live their life to the fullest, even though they are poorly educated or endure difficult living conditions. Despite such hardships, “these people fearlessly face obstacles in life and manage to find happiness and satisfaction,” Shen says. “Whenever I compare [them] to myself, I feel a lot more grateful for what I have,” he adds.
Yulan Magnolia Flowers, one of Shen’s long-term series, reflects the photographer’s compassion and concern for people often overlooked by society. To document the various aspects of Taiwan’s magnolia industry, between 2001 and 2007 Shen ventured into rural growing areas of Pingtung County, southern Taiwan, and Changhua County, central Taiwan, as well as Taipei City, Taiwan’s capital, where the flowers are sold. “I found myself sharing the joys and hardships faced by the people I photographed, whether they were [the flower] farmers, wholesalers or street vendors,” Shen says of the project. Magnolia blossoms have a unique place in Taiwanese culture as they are a common offering to gods in Buddhist temples and are sold mostly by female vendors who walk among the vehicles at busy intersections while drivers and motorcyclists wait for the traffic lights to change.
Shen considers photography much more than an artistic way of preserving and presenting images, explaining that he sees the camera as a useful tool for studying society. In recent years, for example, the interviews and photos he has recorded of dozens of the entertainers in Taiwan’s cabaret business have resulted in two ongoing series named Taiwan Cabaret and Singers. His aim is to offer a more impartial view of the industry, since the sector is often negatively perceived by the general public. “Most of the [cabaret] singers I came across were much more ‘ordinary’ than most people think … they are simply normal people who have chosen a special profession,” Shen says. Under their glittering outfits and heavy makeup, Shen says that the cabaret performers, like everyone else, have their dreams and work hard to pursue a better life. “I think we’re all the same in terms of our [motivation] to work,” he says.
A photo taken in 1997 from Reflections of Nan-fang-ao, one of Shen’s early series, which documents the life and local people in the small coastal town of the same name in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County. (Photo Courtesy of Shen Chao-liang)
Lan Tsu-wei (藍祖蔚), a film critic familiar with Shen’s work, describes him as a “photography farmer,” explaining that Shen’s deep connection to the pictures he takes is just like that of farmers to their produce. “He presents the Taiwanese cultural elements he has observed and interpreted in his own way,” Lan says. The film critic says he often encourages the photojournalists he knows to turn their cameras from illustrating news events once in a while, and instead look at the people and things around them. This is certainly what Shen has done, Lan adds.
For his part, Shen believes that Taiwanese photographers should focus more on topics related to local culture. “It would be an extremely valuable and meaningful endeavor to invest more time on subject matter of this kind and render a complete historic record for the [generations] to come,” he says.
Interestingly, the STAGE series does not include pictures of people. Shen also chose to present color images, in contrast with most of his previous works, which are in black and white. He says he made the decision during the shooting process, when he realized the colors on the stage trucks have their own cultural meaning. By taking photographs without people in them, Shen says he is attempting to create a surrealistic effect because most people usually see the cabaret trucks surrounded by an excited crowd with entertainers performing on stage.
Questioning a Culture
Film director Huang Ming-chuan (黃明川) says that the STAGE series shows Shen has transcended documentary photography and entered the territory of contemporary photography. Instead of using people as the major component of his pictures, Huang says, “Shen shot some images of cabaret trucks with temples, cemeteries or two excavators as the background.” Such arrangements, the director notes, depict the relationship between cultural elements, making Shen’s photos more than just portraits of an individual’s behavior or experience.
A funeral worker leads mourners in crying during a service, one of the images from Reflections of Nan-fang-ao taken in 1997. (Photo Courtesy of Shen Chao-liang)
When asked about the greatest challenge he comes upon as a photographer, Shen says that it is all about stoking the creative fire. “As long as your passion [for photography] continues, you’ll be able to come up with solutions to all the problems you encounter and keep moving ahead,” he says. “I feel that my passion hasn’t faded because I still experience anxiety whenever I don’t go out to take photos.”
Having made photography his career, Shen says that as much as he likes to see others being touched by his photos, to him, taking pictures has become more personal than ever in recent years. “Of course it’s my means of making a living, but it’s also the channel I use to connect to the outside world and the way I express my emotions,” Shen says. “Although photography has so many layers of meaning in my life, in the end, I feel that I take pictures solely to inspire myself.”
Write to Audrey Wang at ycwang06@mofa.gov.tw